Darkness Falls Once More
by kisa-kara-chan
Summary: ON-HIATUS. Riku's girlfriend Yuki is ill as darkness threatens the worlds again as Maleficent and Org. XIII rises again. Will Riku, Sora and Co. save her in time and beat both evils? But Yuki holds a dark secret that threatens Riku's light.RikuxOC SxK RxN
1. Prologue: Return to Destiny Islands

**Hi all you KH fans out there! I was just doing this Powerpoint project in school and I decided to make my topic on KH2, then I remembered how I always thought that Riku deserved a girlfriend, considering that Sora has Kairi, Roxas has Namine, Donald has Daisy, and Mickey has Minnie. **

**Anyway, I thought that it was fair that Riku should get someone. lol.**

**_So... things you should know:  
This story picks up directly after the ending of KH2, so WARNING FOR SPOILERS. During the time while Sora and Co. were asleep, and Riku was trying to do his best to help him out (before he looked like Ansem), he met a Keyblade wielder named Yuki, who was also known as the 'Maiden of Light'. The reason behind this will be revealed later on in this fanfiction. Anyway, Riku learned that Yuki's light and the strength of her heart was dependant on the light that remained in all the known worlds. If the darkness conquered over all, she would die. But it turns out that her heart is also a powerful source of energy, in which Organization XIII wanted to harness, as well that the Heartless was automatically drawn to her (as the Heartless are drawn to Sora). Thus... this story continues..._**

**In the meantime, I hope in enjoy this fanfiction! Please suggest things I could fix and or just suggest some awesome ideas and possibly new Disney worlds I could get them to explore when it reaches that stage in the fanfiction. **

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
Disney characters (c) Walt Disney  
Claimer: Everything else (c) me**

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Prologue: Return to Destiny Islands

Two figures spiralled from the sky with blazing blue light before striking the blues of the ocean with a clear splash. Two boys at the age of 15 and 16 popped their heads out of the water and looked around them, noticing that the scene was familiar. The spiky-brown haired teen shook the water from his hair and exchanged a glance with his silver-haired companion.

"Sora! Riku!" a girl called, waving to them.

_Kairi!_ Sora thought in joy. _We're back! We're home!_

With a cheer, Sora quickly swam back towards the island, Riku following close after him. As Sora began to run onto shore, Donald Duck, Goofy and King Mickey Mouse leaped up behind Kairi with cheers and ran towards them. Donald and Goofy immediately tackled Sora and he felt backwards, smacking against the water as they hugged him like crazy as Mickey leaped up to Riku and the 16-year-old spun the king before lifting him up into the air.

After some emotional moments, Sora sat up, looking up at Kairi with a grin after taking out her seashell charm from his pants pocket. "W-We're back," he announced.

Offering out her hand, she smiled back. "You're home."

Taking his hand, Kairi helped him up and the two embraced.

"I promised I'd come home after I found Riku," Sora retorted with a grin.

Riku kneeled down and looked at the king. "Have you seen Yuki yet? How is she recovering from the incident at C.O.?" he inquired curiously.

Mickey's eyes dimmed as he looked away in pain, flaring Riku's worry and concern. "About her…" he trailed off quietly.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with Yuki?" the teen demanded urgently, "Is she okay?"

The king's gaze met his. "She's been bedridden ever since this morning after she collapsed suddenly. A new darkness is eating away at her heart, and its killing her," he told him gravely.

"What?!" Riku gasped unintentionally loud.

Kairi, Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at him.

"Is something wrong, Riku?" Sora queried worriedly.

"During the time you were sleeping, I met a girl named Yuki who is also a Keyblade wielder. She's been known as the 'Maiden of Light', as her heart and body reacts with the darkness that infests the worlds," he explained. "She's a very powerful magic user as well. I protected her from Organization XIII and sent her back here where I thought it would be safe."

Kairi nodded. "She's really nice," she agreed. "She just showed up one day here on Destiny Islands, and refused to tell me who brought her here until I returned here not too long ago."

"I'm afraid what you said about her being safe wasn't true," Mickey stated reluctantly. "While you were off helping Sora, she was attacked by members of Organization XIII before they returned back to The World That Never Was to stop you, Sora, Donald and Goofy."

His aqua eyes were set to a whole new depth of worry. "Is she alright?"

"She wasn't hurt too bad. A potion helped her out afterwards," he answered. "I went to go help out right after I heard that you showed up in that world."

_Yuki…_ Riku thought in pain, _I'm so sorry…_

Sora looked at his childhood friend as he noticed his worried friend. "Do you love her, Riku?"

"She's my girlfriend," he answered honestly, trying to force a grin, "of course I love her. She loves me too." Turning back to the king, he asked, "Can I see her right now?"

Mickey nodded. "She's resting right now. I'm still not sure what's doing this to her. But Maleficent might be on the move sending her Heartless back to the worlds, especially that Organization XIII is gone," he said.

"Then let's go see her," Donald agreed.

Riku's aqua eyes dimmed as he began to fear for his girlfriend's health. "Let's hurry," he stated before they all ran off.

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**Sorry if this was short, AND if several of the characters were OCC. I would really appreciate it if you could review and tell me how to fix anything. Please and thank you!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Awakening

**Okay... here's the next chapter for those who are waiting! **

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
Disney characters (c) Walt Disney  
Claimer: Everything else (c) me**

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Chapter One: Awakening

Riku took a deep breath as his hand settled on the doorknob of Yuki's room, his head bowed and aqua eyes closed.

"Riku?" Mickey said in concern.

Opening his eyes, he breathed, "I'm fine."

Turning the doorknob, he pushed open the door and stared at the young 16-year-old girl laying in a bed of linen white sheets against the opposite wall of the door. Her long black hair rested behind her that framed her slender face and high cheekbones. Her slender body was covered with a silky blue blanket, one of her hands folded on her chest while the other rested by her side. Her skin was rather pale from her already light skin, and her breathing seemed rather slow.

The room was simple, with a hardwood desk and chair with a shelf full of books and other items, as well as a closet.

Riku hurried to her side, sitting down on her bedside and taking one of her hands in both of his, feeling the coldness of her flesh.

"Yuki," he murmured, pressing her hand against his lips, "wake up."

Kairi looked sadly at her friend. "She's been like this since this morning. She hasn't woken at all," she stated.

Riku looked at Sora. "Do you think you could do anything to help her Sora? Can you help the light in her heart?" he asked in concern.

Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand and he placed the tip of it on Yuki's forehead, closing his eyes. "I'll try," he said unsurely.

"A-Ah!" Yuki choked as her back arched, her face twisting in pain briefly before she flopped back down against the bed.

"Yuki!" Riku cried as Sora stepped back in shock.

Sora watched painfully as Riku tried to wake the seemingly-sleeping girl. _W-What have I done? D-Did I hurt her?! _ He thought in horror.

Suddenly, golden eyes began to flutter open as Yuki looked up into Riku's.

"R-Riku?" she murmured quietly as she tried to sit up.

"Yuki! You're awake!" he breathed in relief, hugging her against his chest in a tight embrace. "How do you feel?"

She sighed, "I've been better. How about you? Are you alright?"

Pressing her tighter against him, he asked her in a pained voice, "How could you still worry about me when you can barely stay awake?"

"When you're off saving the world, I can't help but worry about you and whether you're alright," the girl replied. "What happened?"

"Kingdom Hearts is no more," King Mickey said, "Sora and Riku defeated Xemnas and the rest of Organization XIII is gone. However, Maleficent has returned with her Heartless."

Yuki pulled back from Riku and carefully swung her legs out of bed, sitting up while leaning on her boyfriend. "Maybe that is why I collapsed this morning," she sighed, looking back at Sora, Donald and Goofy. "And who are these guys?"

"I'm Sora," Sora greeted, "this is Donald and Goofy. We're all friends with Kairi, Riku, and the King."

She gave a curt nod. "I'm Yuki," she returned, "it's nice to meet you, though I wish it would be under better conditions. So you must be the Sora that Riku was talking about."

Riku wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. "Yuki, I'm so sorry I left you," he apologized, "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, "and don't be sorry. You needed to go help Sora and his friends. I don't blame you for that. And don't worry about me. I'll be alright in a few days. The light of the Keyblades support the light within my heart."

Stroking her hair, he rested his chin on her head. "I promise I'll protect and help you any way I can," he promised.

"I know," she responded. "Now… let's head outside, I think I've been cooped up in here for a little too long. It's getting stuffy in here."

Very carefully, Yuki stood up with Riku's help and closed her eyes, a swirl of magic embracing her and her white and black pyjamas and transforming into a spaghetti-strap pure white dress that reached her ankles. White half-inch heels cradled her feet and a single white Lily appeared in her hair, holding back some of her black bangs.

"W-Wow…" Donald gasped in awe, "t-that's amazing!"

She smiled softly. "Thank you," she said as Riku offered out his hand to her and she took it without a moment's hesitation.

As Yuki, Riku, Sora, and Kairi returned to the beach and stared across the horizon towards the setting sun Yuki reached up and gave Riku a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," she said suddenly.

He looked at her. "What for?"

She smiled at him. "For coming back like you promised you would," she whispered before their lips met in a passionate embrace before pulling away.

Kairi leaned her head on Sora's shoulder. "Awww… aren't they cute?" she cooed.

Sora blushed. "U-Uh… yeah," he agreed.

Yuki felt something spark within her heart and she tensed in Riku's arms. "Ah!" she breathed.

Riku's worried aqua gaze looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"Um… I think so," she replied quietly, looking over at Sora and Kairi before walking over to them, her hand outstretched and her golden eyes closed.

All of a sudden, two blondes walked out from Sora and Kairi's bodies and Yuki took a wary step to the side before being caught by Riku.

"R-Roxas! N-Naminé!" Sora gasped.

Roxas smiled as he looked down at his solid self before glancing back up. "Hey Sora, Kairi, Riku," he greeted easily, his gaze suddenly falling onto the girl Riku held upright. "Y-Yuki?" he breathed in amazement.

"Hi Roxas," she sighed tiredly, "It's nice to see you and Naminé again. It's been a while… I think."

"You know them?" Kairi inquired in surprise.

Yuki nodded as she stood on her own once more. "I met them while Sora, Donald and Goofy were asleep," she answered.

"Yuki, did you just separate us?" Naminé questioned curiously, "As in, did you separate Roxas and I from Sora and Kairi?"

"Yes, not an easy task, I assure you," she replied. "But… with my current level of magic, I managed. Now… the reason behind this is because I believe that something is happening in one or more of the other worlds, and we'll need help."

Sora grinned, "We can handle it!"

Kairi tackle-hugged him. "But you guys only _just_ got back!" she argued defensively.

"Kairi's right," Yuki sighed. "For the time being we'll let things unfold as they are. If something's wrong, I'll sense it and alert the rest of you. Otherwise relax for the time. You guys haven't actually been home in about a year. As for Roxas and Naminé, I will need to consult you both about something that's just come up that's beginning to bother me."

Riku looked at her with worried eyes. "I'll need to hear this too," he stated bluntly. "If it involves you, and more importantly, _bothers_ you, then I definitely need to know. I want to help you." His palm rested on her cheek as his fingers brushed against her hair, his face closing in on hers. "You're the one I love with all my heart."

She smiled. "I love you too," she said, reaching up to give him a passionate kiss.

"Hmmm… maybe we've missed something for the last while," Naminé commented with a smile.

As Yuki pulled back from Riku, she placed a hand on his chest over his heart.

"You've been touched by the darkness," she murmured, looking up at him. "I felt darkness mixed with your aura while you were gone. What happened?"

"I needed to submerse myself in darkness in order to help Sora and his friends," he explained. "I'm sorry if that hurt you."

She shook her head. "It didn't harm me, but… I was worried. I don't want to lose you to the darkness," she told him. "You pulled me out of the darkness and brought light back into my heart, even when you were almost lost to the darkness yourself."

"But I defeated the darkness within me. I'm here, now," he said quietly, "with you. And we're together once more."

She reached up to touch his cheek. "You're not leaving me ever again," she determined. "Wherever you go, I'm coming with you."

He hugged her tightly against his chest. "I promise I'll always protect you, no matter what happens," he swore quietly to her. Looking at the others, he mouthed, "go, we'll be back later."

As the others left, Yuki stayed quiet as she just held herself in Riku's arms, listening to the beating of his heart and feeling his chest heave with every breath he took.

"Yuki," Riku murmured into her hair, burying his face in it.

"Riku," she whispered, burying her face into his shoulder, "I love you so much."

He pulled back and smiled, giving her a sweet, deep kiss. "I love you too."

Without warning, Yuki's breath caught in her throat as she felt a dark pulsing within her heart and she began to collapse back. Riku caught her and lowered her down as he began to shout her name desperately, but she couldn't hear him. She could only see his lips move and mouth words, though they were inaudible to her ears. As her head fell back in the crease of his arm, her eyes looked up into the darkening star-filled sky before they rolled back and her eyelids closed over them as she slipped unconscious.

_"W-Where am I?" She murmured to no one in particular as she found herself in a white, shapeless world. _

_"Yuki!" a familiar voice cried, a ripple of black rings appearing in the distance. _

_"Riku?" she inquired. "Is that you, Riku?"_

_"Maiden of Light!" a deeper voice boomed, "You have been summoned here!" _

_The 16-year-old looked around for the voice. "Here being where exactly? Why have I been summoned?" _

_"This is the only place where light and dark coexists in harmony," the voice replied. "You need to know that there has recently been a new emergence of another Keyblade wielder, but they reside within darkness. You will need to lead them out of the darkness; help them shoulder it, as your love did. Another thing, the darkness is rising once more, old and new foes alike. Your life needs to be once more dependent on the light of the Keyblade wielders around you, as well as the Keyblade Master himself. Your life is in danger, I fear this battle may be one you may not survive." _

_She sighed, "I understand. Will there _ever_ be a time when my life isn't dependant on the light of the worlds? Sure, I don't mind _too_ much that my heart monitors the light within worlds, but it gets tedious after a while." _

_The voice chuckled, "I'm afraid you cannot escape the fate of being the Maiden of Light. However, you will gain a greater peace of mind through these next few experiences. You will make new friends; reunite with old ones, and hopefully save the worlds once more."_

_"Hey, I wasn't the one who saved them last time," she retorted. "But thanks for the flattery."_

_"You may end up giving your life and light for someone you care for deeply," he warned. "Are you sure you're willing to accept this?"_

_Yuki dipped her head. "If it's for the better cause, then yes, I will make that sacrifice," she determined. "Just tell me I won't regret it, after all… you _do_ know a lot that I definitely don't."_

_"You won't regret it," he promised. _

_She sighed in relief, "Thank you." _

_"Be ready, Yuki, for the hardships you will face in the future may prove difficult yet," the voice warned before there was a flash of bright light, "Good luck!"_

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**Well... that was blunt. I wonder what will happen in the next chapter??? lol. It involves dramaticism. I think that's a word, yes. lol.**

**PLEASE REVIEWWW!!!!!!**


	3. Unravelling of the Truth

**Well... we've got some reuniting to do in this chapter. Keybladers, Nobodies; Nobodies, the Keybladers. lol. Of course... it's never that simple.**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney worlds/characters (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

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Chapter Two: Unravelling of the Truth

Riku held onto his fallen girlfriend tightly as the others gathered around them, draping a blanket over her cold body while Kairi placed a cold wet cloth on her forehead.

"Riku, why don't you explain to us what happened?" King Mickey insisted.

He looked down into her face. "We just talked and held each other before she just collapsed," he explained, gently stroking her cheek in deep concern. "I-I wasn't sure what happened. She looked like she was in pain before she fell unconscious."

All of a sudden, Yuki's eyes shot open with a single gasp that escaped her lips.

"Yuki!" Sora exclaimed.

Feeling her shiver, Riku pulled her up so that her head rested on his shoulder as he wrapped the blanket tighter around her small body. The wet cloth had fallen off her forehead and her eyes fluttered feverishly.

"Yuki, what happened?" he demanded.

"Oh… um… how can I say this?" she mumbled. "To put things bluntly, I was summoned by this voice that warned me that there's a new Keyblade wielder out there who uses the power of darkness, _and_ that my life is in danger again, _and_ that the darkness is rising again."

Winding his arms around her waist, he kissed her hair. "Oh Yuki," he murmured, pressing him tighter against him.

Reaching up, she nuzzled her face against his warm neck and let her lips brush against his skin. As she looked up into the darkened sky, she closed her eyes. "I apologize if I worried you," she said, "I'm alright now."

"You should probably get back inside before you catch something," Roxas advised.

She shook her head. "It's alright," she retorted, "I just want to lay here under the stars. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I'm staying here with you," Riku insisted. "At least let me have that if you're staying here."

"Okay, we'll just head back inside," Sora said.

"Just give us a shout if you need anything," Donald added.

Yuki nodded as she rested her head back against Riku's shoulder, blinking up into the dark, star-stricken sky above. When all the others finally were gone, Yuki tilted her head back down to look across the sea.

"Yuki," her boyfriend murmured, taking her hand in his, "there's something else you're not telling us. What is it?"

Closing her eyes, she squeezed his hand gently. "I really can't hide anything from you, can I, Riku."

"Seriously, Yuki. What is it that you're not telling me?" he insisted.

Sighing, she looked back into the stars. "I may not survive this next war of light and dark," she admitted. "I'm already dying as it is."

Pressing his face into her hair, he fought the overwhelming sadness and pain clawing away at his heart. He didn't want to lose her, not yet, not ever. "I won't let that happen," he promised. "I _can't_ let that happen. I don't want to lose you."

She looked at him and reached up to touch his face. "I warned you from the start of our relationship that falling in love with the 'Maiden of Light' would be a painful experience. I've already known from the beginning that I will die before my rightful time because of these wars," she explained. "It's so unfair to you that you have to go through this with me."

"It's because I love you that I must," he retorted, whispering against her hair, "I don't want you to die. I love you so, so much."

"I know you do Riku, and I feel the same. But… I can't let you get involved," she replied. "I don't want you to get hurt for me."

Riku held her tighter. "It's not like I want you to get hurt either," he retorted.

"But some things are just inevitable," Yuki said sadly. "Now, let's just stop talking about this rather depressing topic and stay positive. We're living in _this_ moment, just you and me under this beautiful starry sky. This may be our only moment of peace before the fights start up again."

Chuckling, he tilted her head up towards his and kissed her softly, his arms encircling around her waist. Very slowly, their kiss deepened, and Riku gently laid Yuki down on the sand and he rested on top of her, both taking leisure in their slow kisses.

Suddenly, Yuki winced at a sharp pain in her heart, and pulled her lips abruptly off his.

"Is something wrong?" he inquired, gazing into her eyes worriedly.

She shook her head, slipping out from under him and standing up, gazing up into the stars and other worlds.

"Hmmm…" she murmured, turning back to Riku with a tired smile. "Let's go back. I'm getting a little tired. It's best if we get some sleep."

He nodded, draping the blanket around her shoulders as they walked back together.

--

Late that night, as Yuki slept peacefully next to Riku, she felt a disturbance in her mind.

_Yuki…_ the familiar voice called, _do you remember me? I need to talk to you. Meet me on the beach, got it memorized?_

Yuki's golden eyes opened slowly, glancing briefly at her sleeping boyfriend as she was snuggled up against his chest. Carefully and quietly stepping out of bed, she transformed her midnight-blue nightgown into robes of pure white, a pair of large butterfly wings protruding from her back.

_Hmm… I sense that King Mickey has already left Destiny Islands…_ she contemplated, _He must have gone ahead to control the Heartless in the other worlds._

Hearing Riku moan her name in his sleep, she turned to look at him.

_Riku…_ she thought sadly, glancing at his peaceful face before turning back. In silence, she left the room and out towards the beach.

Not too long afterwards, Riku stirred awake with the feeling of loneliness. Noticing that Yuki was gone, he looked around, looking outside the window to see her figure gracefully step towards the beach.

"Where is she going?" he asked out loud to himself.

Deciding to follow her, he carefully stalked after her, hiding within the shadows of the palm trees until he reached the beach, hiding behind the thick trunk of a tree. Yuki stood silently near the ocean, gazing out across the waters. All of a sudden, a dark black and purple portal-like egg appeared in front of her.

_What is going on?_ Riku thought as a spiky redhead walked out from the portal, dressed in all-too-familiar robes. _Hey, we met him in Castle Oblivion before! But Organization XIII is gone, isn't it?_

"Hey there Yuki," he greeted.

Yuki sighed, "It's been awhile, hasn't it… Axel…"

"So you _do_ remember me," he retorted, "at least that's one of you."

"You know it's not Roxas' fault that he can't remember you," she argued, folding her arms into her long sleeves. "He was forced to forget everything. Now… what brings you here?"

The Organization XIII member sighed, "Well… the Organization's alive. But… I think you've probably already figured that one out by now."

"Yeah," she replied. "Do you know why?"

He nodded. "Because of _you_," he told her. "Ever felt a strange sensation in your heart recently?"

Reluctantly, she nodded. "Just this morning before I collapsed," she admitted. "Was that caused by Organization XIII's revival?"

"In this round, I think the Organization's survival lies in your own," Axel guessed. "They live because you do."

Riku felt a dread crawling upon him as Yuki asked, "So does that mean if I die, the Organization dies with me?"

To Riku's relief, the Nobody shook his head. "If you died, the Organization would still live on, worse yet, they'd feed off the light that you left behind. That is, of course, unless you gave it up already. Plus, if you died, the rest of us would probably end up dead too."

"I'm flattered," she grumbled.

He chuckled, "Never really did have a knack for jokes, I suppose."

"Okay, so how do we take out the Organization _permanently_?" the Maiden of Light asked.

"Well… from what I heard, you'll need to use a certain keychain for your Keyblade that should help out, at least. If I'm correct, this set of key chains should be somewhere here on Destiny Islands. I'm guessing they're probably in the ocean. Otherwise, I'm not exactly sure yet, the keychain thing is only temporary," Axel explained. "Well… the Organization already knows I'm a 'traitor', as they would say, but I appeared in the castle with the rest of them unfortunately. But they've received a new Keyblade wielder into the Organization. I've never met him, but I got a glance of him. His name is Xven; he's about 17, short black hair, green eyes. Got it memorized?"

"Oh… well… that sucks," she said. "But I guess we'll manage. After all… we have 5 Keyblade wielders on our side, including the Keyblade Master himself. Now… as for the key chains…" she trailed off.

"Do you want some help?" Axel inquired.

Shaking her head, she let her wings carry her up into the air before they vanished and her robes transformed into purple seashell bra, her legs transforming into a beautiful gleaming azure blue tail. Beautiful shell bracelets wound around her wrists. Her hair had shells braided into them, and her head and shoulder popped up from the water, looking at Axel.

"Hmm… still look as radiant as ever," he commented. "Anyway, I'll keep you updated. You know how to contact me if you need me. Tell Roxas and Sora I said hi."

She raised a hand and waved as the former Org. XIII member vanished back into the portal.

"Hmmm… now where would those key chains be?" Yuki murmured to herself, swimming closer towards the shore. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called, "Riku, you can come out of hiding now. I know you've been listening in ever since I got here."

Riku came out from behind the tree he was hiding and walked out towards her.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I was worried about you."

Chuckling, she smiled. "It's fine," she said, "at least it saves me from explaining it to you when I got back and if you were awake. Now… I'm going to go find that set of key chains, so I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Let me go with you," Riku offered. "It'll be faster that way."

She nodded. "Come on then," she told him, and he dived in, Yuki transforming his legs into a dark blue scaled tail and he hugged her against his bare chest, giving her a light kiss on the forehead.

"Hello," he greeted, "you ready to find us a keychain?"

Diving into the water, both 16-year-old teens looked around the bottom of the ocean floor, illuminated only by the light of the moon.

"Find anything yet?" Riku asked his girlfriend.

She shook her head, her black hair flowing in the waters. "Let's keep looking," she replied, both of them swimming next to each other.

"Yuki, do you just want to look for this in the morning?" Riku inquired.

She chuckled, looking at him. "You know I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight even if we _do_ go back," she said. "If you want though you can go back."

"It's alright," Riku responded, swimming closer to give her a kiss, "I'll stay and make sure you're alright."

All of a sudden, there was a flash of black light, and it ripped through Yuki's right arm, drawing blood. Before she could cry out, she was tackled by a silver shark, the creature biting deep into her shoulder. There was a sickening crunch, and Riku knew that several of Yuki's bones must have snapped.

"Yuki! No!" he shouted, summoning his "Way to the Dawn" Keyblade and slashing at the shark Nobody, "Let go of her!"

As Riku shot the beast with a brief shock of electricity, with its cry it released Yuki, and the mermaid dropped to the ocean floor with a silent thump, blood flowing out of her shoulder and her arm. Blinking up, she found herself to be unable to move, and she could do nothing but watch Riku fight for their lives. Closing her eyes she called to Sora, Donald, Goofy and Roxas through her magic, breaking into their dreams with a mental cry for help.

_Sora! Donald! Goofy! Roxas! Riku and I need your guys' help! _She called to them mentally. When she felt feelings of reassurance stir up within her, she knew they'd be there to help soon.

When she opened her eyes once more, she still saw Riku fighting against the Nobody, but she felt a light consume her wounds, blanketing her pain with a warm, numbing light as the wounds began to heal. Immediately Yuki knew it was one of the jerk reactions of her magic, and she closed her eyes, her head tilting to the side as she felt the light fold over her entire body.

"Yuki," Riku shouted as he fought against the shark while defending her, "wake up! Open your eyes, Yuki!"

She didn't respond, as it seemed that she was knocked clearly unconscious, with the exception that there was a blanket of pale white light resting upon her body.

Riku knocked the shark away and swam down to his girlfriend, watching as her wounds were almost fully healed. As the Nobody bared its teeth as it attacked them, he blocked the vicious teeth with his Keyblade, holding the creature off just in front of Yuki.

_What's going on?!_ He thought in slight panic, _Why are Nobodies here on Destiny Island?_

The next thing he knew, there was a black-cloaked and hooded figure flashing towards Yuki's healing form, a scythe brandished in his hand as he swung it at the lighted mermaid.

"NO!" Riku yelled a moment too late.

As the tip of the scythe touched the light, it shattered, and the Organization XIII member was blown back towards the surface from the powerful pulse of light. Yuki sat herself upright before flicking her tail so that she swam up towards the shark Nobody, her glowing Oathkeeper Keyblade clutched tightly within both hands as with one fluid sweep, the Nobody vanished.

"Yuki, you're alright!" Riku exclaimed, swimming up next to her and embracing her.

"Just barely," she responded with a sigh, looking at her shoulder. "See? The scars are still there. It'll take a little longer before my shoulder will completely recover. Now… what was that Organization XIII member doing here?"

Kissing her gently but desperately, he said, "Let's forget about finding that keychain at the moment. We need to go make sure the others are okay."

Both of them swam up towards the surface with great speed, popping their heads out of the water to see the soaked Nobody facing Sora, Donald and Goofy, his back turned to Yuki and Riku.

"What do you want?!" Sora shouted.

"I'm surprised you don't remember me," the mysterious figure stated, drawing back his hood to reveal rose pink shoulder-length hair and blue eyes.

_Marluxia,_ Yuki thought with dread, _of course, Sora, Donald, and Goofy won't remember considering Naminé wiped out their memories of Castle Oblivion._

"Why should we?" Donald reasoned, "What do you _want_ already?"

He smirked, his blue eyes glittering with amusement. "The Maiden of Light, of course."

Fairy wings fluttered into appearance on Yuki's back as she leaped into the air, propelled by her wings, driving her forward towards the 11th member of Organization XIII, her Keyblade poised as she transformed back into a human, a blouse of sleek white and black pants hugging against her body. Riku leaped into the air and he transformed back, his clothes completely dry. He landed beside his trio of friends.

Marluxia swung around and blocked her Oathkeeper with his Scythe. "Ah, how nice to see you again, Yuki," he greeted. "It's been a while. Why don't you be a good girl and come with me back to headquarters?"

"Two words for you," she retorted as she landed next to Sora, "As. If." Wincing gently, her hand touched against her shoulder.

"You're draining fast, Yuki," Marluxia taunted, using his power over roses to send a wave of sharp-edged petals flying through the air towards them.

Immediately, they all shielded themselves from the blade-like petals, and a burst of white lightning pulsed from Yuki's palm, and Marluxia was forced to cease his attack to defend himself from the powerful blast. Within the chaos, Sora, Yuki and Riku leaped forward towards him, their Keyblades drawn.

As Marluxia dodged their advance, Yuki's Oathkeeper Keyblade morphed into a beautiful ivory-coloured bow, an arrow in her hand, its tip and feathers having the colours of the Oathkeeper. Shooting the arrow, the Org. XII member blocked the shot and his scythe vanished, giving Sora and Riku the opportunity to attack with their Keyblades.

"Hmm… your power has increased since the last time we met," Marluxia commented, seemingly unfazed as he teleported away from Sora and Riku in front of her. "But… that doesn't mean you're not vulnerable."

Her eyes widened. "What?!" she gasped, and suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce into her back and through her chest, dropping her Keyblade-turned-bow before it vanished. "A-Ah…" she choked in pain.

A second Organization XIII member had stabbed a black and red Keyblade that looked eerily similar to a cross of the Oblivion with the Oathkeeper Keyblade through Yuki's back. The crystal near the hilt was red instead of purple, and the key chain was the symbol of the Nobodies.

"Yuki!" Riku screamed, but it was already too late.

The figure pulled the Keyblade from her chest, and Yuki dropped to her knees before slumping to the ground, a soft light floating from her body and into the Keyblade, the red crystal sparkling with energy. But there was no blood, no wound, upon Yuki's body as her breathing was hard and uneven.

As Riku and Sora touched back down on the ground, Marluxia kneeled down to turn Yuki's limp body over onto her back, her eyes faintly fluttering up at her captors. The second Organization XIII member drew their hood down to reveal a 17-year-old boy with forest green eyes and short black hair, his lips drew into what looked like a frown.

"Marluxia," Xven spoke quietly, looking down at Yuki as he kneeled next to her as his fellow Nobody stood, "why does she look so familiar to me? Why does this seem so wrong?"

"Get away from her!" Sora shouted before Marluxia stopped them with rose petals.

Weakly, Yuki reached up to touch Xven's cheek before grabbing his cloak and pulling him down so he could hear her better.

"K-Kira…" she whispered into his ear, and his eyes widened as memories of his true self flashed through his head.

As Yuki's eyes slipped close, her grip slipped and her hand fell lifelessly to the ground with a thump, and Xven took a step back, one hand on his head.

_W-What's happening to me?_ He thought, memories of a chestnut-haired 14-year-old kid together with a teenage girl with long black hair and sparkling golden eyes. _Who _are_ these people in my head?_

"Xven?" Marluxia called, breaking him out of his reverie, "Are you done yet? Grab the girl and go! I'll cover your exit!"

_I-I can't…_ Xven thought, _I don't know why… but I just… can't do it._

Sora broke through the rose petals and towards the 11th member, sending him flying while Riku charged at the newest member, aqua eyes blazing with cold anger. Xven blocked the teen's advance, and Riku pushed him back away from Yuki.

As Xven and Marluxia landed back-to-back on the beach, Xven averted his green gaze down and said to Marluxia just loud enough for the rest of them to hear, "Marluxia, let's go. One; you chose the worse time to attack. And two; I've done what Xemnas has asked, so our mission is complete." His grip around his mysterious Keyblade was tight, and he seemed disappointed and angry with himself in some odd way.

Reluctantly, the pink-haired Nobody nodded and they opened a portal before vanishing into it, the portal lifting up into the sky as smoke before disappearing completely.

"Yuki!" Riku shouted as he ran back towards the fallen Keyblade warrior, pulling her into his arms. "Yuki! Yuki! Wake up!"

The girl did little more than stir, and this rose concern among her friends. Riku held her tightly against his chest, and pressed his lips tightly against her forehead.

"Why won't she wake?!" Donald demanded.

"What could possibly be wrong?" Goofy questioned, "Whatever that guy did, a-hyuck, it can't have been good."

Footsteps could be heard as Kairi, Roxas and Naminé ran onto the beach towards them.

"What happened?!" Naminé inquired worriedly.

"Organization XIII is back, and they have a new Keyblade wielder on their side," Sora explained. "I have no idea what he did, but he hurt Yuki without _actually_ hurting her. Now she won't wake."

Riku whirled on Sora's Nobody. "Where were you? We could have used your help!" he hissed acidly.

Immediately Sora rushed to defend him. "I convinced him to stay behind and protect Kairi and Naminé if any Nobodies or Heartless attacked them," he said quickly. "Riku, don't blame Roxas for this. It's not his fault."

The older teen sighed depressingly. "Sorry, Roxas," he apologized, "Sora's right. I just… I'm worried."

Yuki's body felt slightly cold in Riku's arms, and he sensed that something was wrong with her; something that couldn't be healed by just a potion, no matter how strong it was. He worried that this injury struck her heart, and was killing her.

"Yuki, please," he begged quietly, gently capturing her lips in his as he held her tightly, tears falling from his eyes and upon her cheek. "You've got to wake up! Yuki, you can't die… I need you."

As he wept, her golden eyes half-opened, and her hand barely twitched.

"R-Riku…" she whispered.

"Yuki," he responded, looking at her as he brushed away his tears. "How do you feel? Are you alright?"

Very weakly, she shook her head. "R-Roxas," she mumbled, barely glancing at the blonde teen, "c-call Axel…" She winced as she tried to move.

"H-How?" he queried.

"As best friends…" she murmured, "you two are… connected… by… the bonds of… friendship…. Call him… with… your heart…"

_My heart? I'm a Nobody, I don't _have_ a heart… do I?_ he thought in confusion, but his thoughts and feelings of desperation and worry drifted to his old friend, and soon enough, a black and purple swirling portal appeared not far from them, and the redhead stepped out.

"You called?" he greeted, before noticing Yuki lying on Riku's lap and the worried people gathered around her. "Yuki!"

Rushing over to them, Yuki's hand shook as she tried to reach up to touch Riku's face. He grabbed her hand and pressed it tightly against his cheek, feeling the coolness of her skin.

"What happened?!" Axel demanded as he skidded to a halt next to them, taking Yuki's other hand in both of his before touching her forehead.

"She was stabbed through with a Keyblade from Organization XIII," Sora explained as Yuki drifted into unconsciousness.

"Xven," Riku said. "That Keyblade… it sucked up a while light from Yuki's body."

With a gasp of shock, immediately Axel pressed a hand on Yuki's chest directly over her heart, confirming his suspicions. "The barrier of light within her heart has been badly damaged. That Keyblade that Xven used must have been the 'Soul Stealer' Keyblade. If used properly, it can weaken the light within one's heart. It's opposite is called the 'Soul Reviver' Keyblade."

"But… Yuki will die without the power of light," Riku argued worriedly, his hands tightening around her. "How can we save her?"

"Restore… light…" his girlfriend choked awake, pulling Riku's hand down against her chest over her still-beating heart.

He blinked aqua eyes. "R-Restore the light within your heart?" he asked.

Closing her eyes, her hand slid off his and fell onto the sand limply.

"Yuki!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed.

With determined aqua eyes, Riku's hand went around his neck as he tugged out a beautiful oval white crystal pendulum, the stone sparkling with magical light. It radiated a soft glow that lit up a bit of their area.

"Riku, where did you _get_ that?!" Naminé gasped, "That's no ordinary stone!"

He looked at Kairi's Nobody. "I know," he said quietly, "Yuki gave it to me before I left. She told me that it would be my light if ever I was plunged back into darkness again, so that I would always find my way back to the light; back to her."

"Awww… how touching," Axel grumbled, "now cut the mushy stuff, this is serious."

The 16-year-old bit back a remark and with one hand, he clutched the pendant in one hand while the other was wound around her. Leaning down, he gently pressed his lips against hers, transferring both light and his feelings into her heart, healing her, sealing the wound that no one could see. Light surrounded both recipients, and as if gravity was no more, their loose clothes and hair floated and waved.

"Whoa…" Sora breathed in surprise, Kairi clinging onto his arm as they all stared in awestruck.

As Riku pulled back, the light faded, and his hand left his necklace to stroke her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"Yuki, please," he whispered, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against hers.

Her eyes fluttered open, blinking in slight surprise as Riku's face was pressed against hers, fear and worry radiating from him.

"Riku," she said quietly.

Leaning back, he sighed in relief, "Yuki, you're awake."

Sitting up against Riku, she looked at Axel. "You came," she said. "As you must have realized, Organization XIII attacked."

"Yeah," the redhead replied, "they told me. Xven stabbed you with the 'Soul Stealer' Keyblade. You're alright now."

She stood up, looking across the distance, her arms folded. "Xven… I know him…" she murmured, shocking the others.

"What?!" Sora gasped, "How?!"

"I knew his true self, a boy named Kira. He was a year older than me, and we used to be the best of friends. I never thought something like _this_ would happen, but then again… I need to reawaken Xven's memories of him. In truth, I'm not exactly sure where _is_ Kira, nor why his Nobody exists," she explained sadly.

Axel's gaze narrowed. "But what makes you think he'll come onto your side?" he inquired suspiciously.

"In one language, Kira means 'dark', in another, it means 'glitter'. Kira also can mean 'sun', so technically, the light," she elaborated. "Within him, as well as nearly everyone except perhaps the Seven Princesses of Heart, there are opposing forces of light and dark within one's heart. Being the Maiden of Light allows me to… let's say, temper, with the light and memories in their heart if I am given a chance."

Riku walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I love you," he murmured into her ear.

Her hands fluttered to rest on his. "I love you too," she replied, "but we've got to be careful, considering I don't want to risk you or the others."

"Hey, it's not like we want you to get hurt either," Axel commented, tucking his gloved hands into his coat pockets.

A pulse of white and soft blue light radiated from Yuki's body, outlining her very form like it did when Riku had kissed her. But this time, it was her and her alone. Looking at Riku, she turned to give him a soft but deep kiss before pulling away, stepping onto the ocean waters as if she was walking on its surface.

"Yuki!" he called after her.

"It's okay, Riku," she assured, "I'll be alright."

A portal of pure white appeared in a similar fashion to that of the black swirling portals of Organization XIII, and she was about to step through it before she stopped, looking back at her friends with tears in her eyes.

"I love you, Riku," she said in a sad voice, "I'll see you guys soon."

All of them found themselves glued to their spots as the girl stepped through the portal and it disappeared.

"No! Y-Yuki!" Riku cried, but it was already far too late; she had vanished.

"W-Where did she go?" Kairi inquired in a small voice.

Axel sighed, running a hand through spiky red hair and looked at her friends. "Well… wherever she went, she'll be coming back. Otherwise she wouldn't have gone wherever she went willingly, and she wouldn't have said she'd be seeing us soon," he reassured. "In the meantime, I'd better get going. Catch you all later."

"Hey Axel," Roxas began, "where are you staying now? You're not living with the Organization anymore. You're always welcome to stay here if you want, if that's okay with Sora, Kairi and Riku, of course."

"Fine by me," Sora agreed.

The former Org. XIII member shook his head. "Nah, it's alright. I've got a place to crash, no worries. But thanks for the offer."

"Yuki…" Riku mumbled, still gazing out at the empty space where she had disappeared.

Axel walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about her," he assured, "she'll be fine. Yuki's a smart and resourceful girl; she can take care of herself."

"I know," he replied with a deep sigh, "but I still can't help but worry about her. I love her so much."

The redhead walked back towards the beach and opened up a portal. "Well… there's nothing more I can do here. Catch you all later."

"Bye Axel!" Roxas called.

"See you!" Sora added.

After Axel departed, Riku turned back to the others with sad aqua eyes.

"Let's just… get back to sleep…" he announced as monotone as he could, but worry cracked into his voice. "Hopefully Yuki will be back in the morning."

"Awww… don't worry Riku," Kairi said, "she'll be just fine. You'll see."

* * *

**Well... the team starts their cross-world journey in the next chapter! **

**Until then... **

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	4. Return to Radiant Garden

**Merry Christmas to all! (and Merry Christmas Eve to others, like me!)**

**Here's the next chapter to this fanfic.**

**Hope you like it!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney (c) Walt Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Three: Return to Radiant Garden

Riku stirred awake slowly, feeling something warm pressed up against him. Letting his aqua eyes flutter open, he caught a glimpse of ebony black hair.

_Yuki!_ He thought with joy as his eyes snapped open, his gaze focusing on the beautiful sleeping girl laying beside him.

Yuki's face looked so peaceful as she lay next to him, dressed in a white t-shirt and black shorts. It was as if nothing ever happened the night before. Stroking her cheek, she half-opened her eyes and blinked at him.

"Morning," she murmured tiredly.

"Yuki," he breathed in relief, wrapping his arms around her tightly as he pulled her head into his chest, burying his face in her long hair.

"I love you, Yuki, so much," he whispered sweetly.

Pulling back, she reached up to kiss him, their lips moving gently together as her fingers twined into his silver hair.

"I love you too Riku," she replied, pressing her cheek against his chest.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered surely, "I'm unharmed. I just…never mind. I think I've made you worry enough."

He sat up, looking at her. "You can tell me, it's alright."

She smiled, sitting up and leaning against him.

"Riku…" she whispered, turning to him and very gently their lips touched, Riku pinning her down on the bed and kissing her passionately before she pushed him off her.

"Is something wrong?" he inquired worriedly.

Yuki shook her head. "No, it's just that we should probably go see the others. We want to get as much of a head start as we can into the day," she replied.

"Awww… and it was right in the middle of our kissing session too," he pretended to mope.

Grinning, she leaned forward for a quick peck. "Well… we could always continue later while we're off saving the worlds from certain destruction," she told him.

"Of course," he replied with a loving grin. "Now… what about those set of key chains that are supposed to help?"

"Oh… don't worry about those," she replied enigmatically, "I've already taken care of that."

He dipped his head. "Okay, now… let's go find the others. I know they're just as worried about you as I was."

Stepping out of bed, a stream of white magic swirled around her instead of the normal rainbow one, transforming her clothes into a casual pair of comfortable blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a short-sleeved black jacket, a glowing crystal heart pendant hanging from a gold chain around her neck.

"What is that?" he queried.

"This is a kind of light meter, I guess you would call it," she answered, "I can measure the light of the worlds with this, as well as it measures the light within my heart. When I measure the light in the worlds, it will glow pink, and if the world is slumbered in darkness, it'll be a dark pink to dark purple. If it's the own light within my heart, it'll be a white light. But…" her voice grew quieter as her eyes dimmed. "If I should die, the pendant will shatter, and the light will fade."

"That won't happen," he promised, wrapping his arms around her so that his chest pressed against her back. "I'll be here to protect you. I love you."

-----

"Yuki! You're back!" Sora exclaimed, running over to hug her.

"Good morning to you too, Sora," she replied cheerfully.

The rest of them hugged her tightly before they looked at her.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Naminé queried worriedly.

"I'm fine," she answered, "now… here's what I'm planning; Roxas, Naminé, Kairi, Goofy, I want the four of you to head to Disney Castle. We need to take a full analysis of the worlds, and it's a lot easier if we have help from Queen Minnie. Now… let's get going. Sora, Riku, Donald and I are heading to Radiant Garden to check out what's the status with Leon and the others."

"Is it a good idea to split up like this?" Kairi inquired.

She nodded. "We can cover more worlds like this," she replied, turning to Roxas while pressing a bag into his hand. "Here, if you run into any Organization members, weaken them just enough so you can throw one of these at them. Trust me."

"Okay, thanks," Roxas replied trustingly.

Sora grinned, cheering, "Let's do this!"

----

Taking two Gummi Ships, the team split up. Once Sora, Riku, Yuki and Donald arrived at Radiant Garden, looking around at the seemingly-peaceful town. Yuki's pendant pulsed a gentle dark pink light.

"It's a little quiet," Sora commented.

"But it seems the darkness here is beginning to spread," Yuki retorted, her fingers touching the heart-shaped pendant.

"Well, let's get started!" Donald cheered.

Sensing it before it came, Yuki quickly turned in front of Sora to face him as a blade-like dagger buried itself into her back. Collapsing against the younger teen, he was surprised, but didn't notice the dagger yet until his hands ran over it.

"Yuki!" Riku exclaimed, pulling the girl out of Sora's embrace as a blonde woman appeared in a familiar black portal dressed in all-too familiar robes.

"You're part of Organization XIII, aren't you," Donald accused.

"Pathetic," she snorted, "you can't even remember me, can you? I'm Larxene, No. 12 in the Organization. If it wasn't for that stupid girl, I wouldn't had a great head start on killing you guys."

Sora summoned up his Keyblade as spells flooded into Donald's head. Riku held Yuki tightly, analysing the wound as she trembled slightly with pain.

"Donald, let's go," Sora pushed before the both of them attacked.

"R-Riku…" Yuki murmured to him, "p-pull it out. T-Trust me."

Biting his lip, he grabbed the end of the blade and pulled it out, a short grunt of pain escaping her lips as blood left her back before a silver light engulfed the wound and slowly healed it.

"Yuki," he whispered, hugging her tightly as he felt strength return to her.

She pulled away, and she looked at him with a smile. "Its okay, Riku, I'm fine now," she reassured, turning back around to face Larxene, her "Oathkeeper" Keyblade appearing in her hand. "Now we should get onto business."

"Hold on…" Riku warned. "Stay back, we'll deal with her."

In a flash, his "Way to Dawn" Keyblade appeared in his hand, standing protectively in front of her before he dashed off to attack.

As they fought, Yuki watched, thinking hard at why Organization XIII would want Sora dead.

_It just doesn't make sense,_ she thought. _They need Sora to collect hearts for them as he's the Keyblade Master. Why would they send Larxene to kill him?_

Suddenly, another presence appeared behind her and she turned around to see Xven, his green eyes filled with confusion as he held his "Soul Stealer" Keyblade in his right hand.

"How do you make these strange memories pop into my head?" he accused.

Her own golden eyes looked sad. "Because I know your true self; I know who's Nobody you are," she replied softly.

The forest green orbs hardened. "Come with me," he beckoned, "I don't want to fight you. I just want to talk." Then he jumped away as Yuki followed, away from the others.

They arrived at an empty alleyway, and Xven turned to face her, his Keyblade vanishing.

"Now… who _are_ you, and why do I see you in those memories?" he demanded of her.

"My name is Yuki, and the reason why is that those memories that you hold belong to my dear friend Kira," she explained, more memories flashing through Xven's head with Kira's name brought up. "You are Kira's Nobody."

As Xven raised one hand to his head to try and stop it from throbbing, he peered at Yuki with pained eyes. "And who are you to this… Kira?" he inquired breathlessly.

She gave him a small smile. "He was my childhood friend, up until a few years ago. During the time we were together though… he grew to love me more than a friend. I figured it out, but before he could actually tell me, we were separated," she told him, pain in her words.

"I-I'm trying so hard to remember," he said.

Walking over to him, she looked up into his forest green eyes. "Maybe this will help," she whispered, leaning up to softly place her lips on his, closing her eyes.

Xven's eyes widened at the small contact as full, complete memories filled his mind, the truth enveloping him before he gently pulled away from her.

"Do you remember now?" she asked, unmoved.

"W-What's this beat in my chest?" he gasped in shock.

Yuki's eyes narrowed. "What?" she demanded. _That's impossible, Xven can't _be_ Kira! _She thought, _There's no such thing as a human becoming his Nobody… is there? Either that or else Xven's true heart is beating for him to return to Kira. _

All of a sudden, Larxene leaped next to him, throwing several blades at Yuki as she blocked them with her Keyblade. The Organization XIII member had cuts and bruises on her, and she seemed to be panting.

"What are you doing, Xven?!" she demanded of her fellow Nobody, "You should be disposing of her, not acting all vulnerable and making _me_ look bad!"

Rushing forward to attack, Larxene lashed out at Yuki with blades, before suddenly shooting a bolt of lightning at the girl, electrifying her momentarily before she snapped out of the trance of pain, using her magic to send the lightning back at her.

"Come on, kid," Larxene hissed, grabbing Xven's arm, "let's get outta here."

"Let him go!" Yuki shouted before collapsing down onto one knee as she had been temporarily paralyzed by the electricity as it jolted around and through her body.

"Yuki, Yuki!" Riku shouted as he and the others approached her in a run.

"Xven! You'll find your true self, trust me, you will!" she called to the newest Organization XIII member.

Xven shot her a worried and confused look before he and Larxene vanished into the darkness in retreat for the time being.

Shakily and slowly, Yuki stood up as Sora, Riku and Donald ran up to her, her boyfriend looking at her in concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked of her.

"Yeah," she sighed, glancing back at the spot where the two Organization XIII members disappeared. "Oh… and I was close to bringing Xven's true memories back."

"But are you unhurt?" Riku repeated, his aqua eyes filled with worry.

"Mostly," she answered, "there's nothing to worry about. Now… we need to find Leon and the others and figure out what's going on."

Sora looked around. "Well… if we head off in _that_ direction… then we should arrive at Merlin's house soon."

Weakly, Yuki's knees broke under her, and she began to collapse before Riku caught her.

"Yuki, you're not alright, are you," he accused, looking deeply into her golden eyes.

"Well… it's only because Larxene shot me with a lightning bolt and I was temporarily paralyzed. I guess my knees are still weak after that happened," she explained simply.

Very carefully, Yuki was swept up into Riku's arms, and he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

"I love you, Yuki," he whispered.

She smiled, reaching up to kiss him on the lips. "I love you too. Sorry that I scared you."

He adjusted her weight. "Just… don't do it again," he said lightly with a smile. Turning to Sora and Donald, he added, "Let's get going."

Donald rolled his eyes and muttered in annoyance, "Lovers…"

Both Riku and Yuki ignored him as they continued walking towards Merlin's House.

When they arrived, they were greeted by their friends Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Merlin, and Cid.

"Hey guys, how are things going?" Sora asked casually.

Leon dipped his head. "Well… things have been going well other than the fact that the Heartless and Nobodies have returned," he answered.

"Hey, are you okay, Yuki?" Yuffie inquired worriedly.

"Whoa!" Sora and Donald exclaimed, "You know her?!"

Yuki nodded, looking at them. "Yeah, I've met them before," she retorted, "as well as many of your other friends. Being the 'Maiden of Light' brings me to a lot of places. Yeah… I'm pretty much fine. Riku, you can let me down now."

Cautiously, her boyfriend set her down onto her feet, and she smiled at him in reassurance.

"Now… what brings you to Radiant Garden?" Merlin the Wizard inquired curiously, adjusting his spectacles.

"We're here to bring light back into all the worlds," Sora declared boldly, "so we can stop Organization XIII and Maleficent, and prevent Yuki from dying."

All eyes turned to the young woman.

"You're dying, Yuki?" Aerith asked, her green eyes dim with sadness.

"Don't worry about me," she answered, "as long as there's light in the worlds, I'm still alive. Unless the light in all the worlds and in myself give out, I'll be fine. That's why restoring the light is our top priority."

Leon pat her on the head. "Just don't overdo yourself," he told her affectionately. "Now… so you're all here to help us clean up this Heartless and Nobody mess."

"First, let's get on into the house to talk a little about this," Cid said.

Following their friends into Merlin's house, Sora, Donald, Riku and Yuki stood behind Cid as he brought up a huge digital map of Radiant Garden, several spots of the large black grid in red and white.

"The places in red are where the Heartless are beginning to gather, and the places in white are where the Nobodies are starting to gather," he explained, pointing it out to them.

"We _could_ split into teams and fight them separately," Yuffie suggested.

Yuki shook her head. "No… too risky. Organization XIII could attack us anytime," she disagreed. "It'll be easier to pick us off if we're all separate. If we _must_ split up, we need to make it into teams of two or three."

"Okay, I'll go with Yuffie and take the northeast corner;" Leon began, "Sora, you and Donald will take the northwest corner here; Cid and Merlin, take the southwest corner; Yuki, Riku, you two take the southeast corner. Meet back here when you've finished your quadrant. Aerith, I'll need to you stay here and alert us if anything differs with the map. Everyone understand?"

"Let's do this!" Sora cheered optimistically, turning to Donald, "Are you ready?"

"Am I ready?!" he squawked, "Of _course_ I'm ready!"

Riku and Yuki both exchanged a brief nod before they all ran off out the door and split up into their four groups, diverting off to their designated locations.

Thoughts flashed through Yuki's head as she and Riku ran off. _Let's just hope these elimination missions go well without any problems…_

* * *

**Well... hope you liked this chapter! **

**Please review!**


	5. Confrontations

**Well... here's the next chapter!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts & Final Fantasy characters (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney characters (c) Walt Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Four: Confrontations

Looking down upon the ocean of Heartless and Nobodies, Yuki sighed, crossing her arms.

"Well… this won't be easy…" she commented.

Riku's Keyblade appeared in his hand. "Never said it would be," he retorted with a smirk.

Her own Keyblade shimmered into appearance, and it was in the form of the Kingdom Key. Taking out a white-wisp-like keychain, it was clipped onto her Keyblade automatically, glowing before transforming into a beautiful elegant white Keyblade that was strikingly similar to Xven's "Soul Stealer" Keyblade.

"Whoa," Riku murmured, "what Keyblade is that?"

She smiled at him. "The 'Soul Reviver' Keyblade," she told him. "Yours will come in time, believe me."

Moving forward before kissing her lightly, he smiled back at her, his forehead touching against hers as he stared deeply into her golden eyes. "I will always love you."

"I love you too," she whispered. "Now… let's do this."

In union, they both leapt down from their higher ground into the midst of the Heartless-Nobody chaos, a bright white light flaring around the both of them as they began to fight against the multiple creatures surrounding them.

After defeating at least 1000 Heartless and Nobodies each, both seemed exhausted as they backed up against each other. There were still hundreds of various Heartless and Nobodies surrounding them.

"Just _how_ many more do we have to go through? This is just crazy!" Yuki panted as they leapt apart, wincing at a spark of pain in her right arm before her Keyblade suddenly vanished as a dozen Heartless leapt at her.

"Yuki!" Riku cried as she vanished under the pile of Heartless before a flash of light blew them away, Yuki wincing as she held her right shoulder, her face scrunched in pain. It seemed like the wound caused by the Nobody back at Destiny Islands was acting up and affecting her ability to use the Keyblade.

Suppressing the pain, she released her shoulder and forced her Keyblade to appear, stabbing it into the ground and a ring of white light erupted from them, instantly vanquishing all nearby enemies and the Heartless and Nobody in the area.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as he raised his arms to shield himself from the force and light. As he lowered his arms, he watched as her eyes widened in shock.

"Riku!" she suddenly cried out, running towards him with her Keyblade drawn before pushing him out of the way.

Without warning, a bolt of blue lightning shot down from the sky and struck Yuki as she screamed in mortal pain as the powerful volts of electricity shot through her body.

"YUKI!" Riku screamed in horror as he recovered from her push, Keyblade poised to direct the blue light.

All of a sudden, it ceased, and she collapsed forward unconsciously with a quiet groan, smoke drifting from her burns as her Keyblade vanished. Riku caught her with one arm, lowering her down next to him as he set her upright.

"Yuki! Yuki!" he shouted to her unconscious form before hearing evil chuckling, looking up to see Larxene laughing at them.

"One down, one to go," she cackled evilly. "Oh… she was just _too_ easy to pick off. Just placing her loved one in danger, and of course, she goes to become the big heroine and protect him. Must be killing you to know that the reason why she's hurt is because she wanted to save _you_."

Pain sparked in Riku's light aqua eyes as he looked down at his unconscious girlfriend. "Come on, Yuki, wake up," he whispered. "Don't leave me, okay? I'll come back to you as soon as I can."

As Riku set her down, he quickly leaped to attack the Organization XIII member. In the meantime, Xven appeared at Yuki's side, brushing the back of his gloved fingers against her cheek.

"Yuki…" he murmured softly, lowering his face to kiss her very softly. "I remember now. I know who you are. Though the rest of my memories are so fuzzy, only _you _appear so clear to me. You don't need to feel this pain."

Pressing his hand against her forehead, he began to send healing waves through her body, causing the angry red burns on her body to fade. But a single thin black line would not disappear on her right arm.

"Strange…" he muttered, running his fingers over the imprint, "I wonder what this could be? I don't recall seeing it before though when we met at the alley not that long ago."

"Mmm…" she moaned, half-blinking open golden eyes. "R-Riku?" she rasped, her voice filled with pain.

"It's me, Yuki," he said gently, resting two fingers over her lips. "Don't speak. You're still a little weak. I'm sorry Larxene attacked you both like that. I tried to tell her not to, but she wouldn't listen to me."

"X-Xven?" she groaned in realization.

He shook his head. "Kira…" he corrected with a smile, "you can call me Kira…"

"But you're not him…" she whispered, causing him to feel a shock of pain in his heart at the remark. "Not until you've regained all your memories, or until you've returned to him… wherever he is. Until then… you're still Xven…"

Xven couldn't help but smile at that.

"And don't forget that Organization XIII will be keeping a close eye on you if you show any signs of hesitation for hurting me," she reminded, slowly sitting up with his assistance. "It'll put the both of us in grave danger if it is known that you remember your true name, especially you."

They both glanced at their fighting allies. Apparently both Riku and Larxene were so wrapped up in their fight that they paid no heed to Yuki and Xven.

Yuki looked at Xven. "We should probably start fighting. If any other Organization XIII member comes to see you here with me, you might be in some trouble."

"You sure you're strong enough?" he asked, forest green eyes glimmering with deep worry.

"Yeah," she replied with a smile as he helped her up to her feet, "thanks to you."

Leaping back, he narrowed his eyes in false wary, holding his hand out where his Soul Stealer Keyblade appeared into it. Yuki grinned, her own golden eyes narrowing as her Soul Reviver Keyblade phased into her grip.

"Let's do this," he said.

_Take it as practice,_ Yuki thought as she surged forward, locking Keyblades with her friend's Nobody.

Meanwhile, as Riku and Larxene circled each other, weapons poised to strike. Riku had already been badly cut and burned, while Larxene was tiring out, badly bruised herself.

"Why don't you just give up, little boy?" The blonde taunted, meeting his aqua eyes with brutal icy ones. "Just surrender her to us, or else let her _die_."

"_Never_," he hissed. "I'm not going to give her up to the likes of _you_ so easily. I'd rather _die_ than allow her to be given up to Organization XIII."

"That could be arranged…" she chuckled, flashing forward to stab her knives against Riku's Keyblade as he blocked her attack. Glancing over at the duelling Yuki and Xven, who were locked Keyblade to Keyblade, she grinned. "Let's see how well your little 'Maiden of Light' can handle _this_ situation."

Knocking Riku down with one surge of energy, she hurled several electricity-charged knives at the girl.

"Yuki!" Riku shouted in alarm.

Almost instantly Yuki twisted in a full rotation to push Xven out of the way before her hand extended towards the blades, and they slowed before coming to a halt before dropping harmlessly to the ground. Larxene growled in bitter frustration and anger.

"Rotten witch!" she snapped, sending a violent blue lightning flashing towards her.

In one fluent movement, Yuki's hand twitched and glowed before shooting a blast of white light from her palm, impacting against the lightning and vanishing into a flurry of white and blue sparks.

"You've done enough damage here, Larxene," the 16-year-old declared boldly before suddenly appearing in front of Riku with her back turned to him. Her eyes flashed with a silver glint in them, and there was suddenly a pressuring tone in her voice, causing Larxene to feel her knees crumple under the weight of Yuki's power-induced words. Yuki's outfit transformed into a long white spaghetti-strap dress, a pair of tiny white feathered wings appearing on her upper back, a pair of silver bands tinkling on both her wrists as two twinkling diamond earrings sparked onto her earlobes. The crystal heart pendant continued to hang around her neck, and it glowed a faint pink light. A silver band rested on her ring finger. "Leave, _now_."

Both Riku and Xven were in utter shock and were glued to their spots.

Larxene hissed, "You've _no right_ to command me like this." Forcing her feet to carry her forward, she made one last attempt with her knives poised towards the Keyblader's neck, but that's all she could reach.

A powerful force was binding Larxene in place as Yuki stood less than a meter in front of her, eyes unflinchingly meeting hers.

"H-How are you doing this?" the Organization XIII member growled as Riku stood up, momentarily hesitant to approach his girlfriend. "Is this the Maiden's true power?" she gasped.

Yuki could help but crack a smile. "It's nothing that you need to concern yourself with," she answered. "Until I can deal with the rest of you rather annoying Organization members… _this_ prison will have to suffice." As Yuki raised a hand in front of her, a row of 13 diamond crystal tombs set upright appeared into view.

"W-What are you doing?!" Larxene cried out as her arms were forced to her sides, her body being pushed back to lay in the 12th tomb before a transparent crystal wall shimmered over it to seal it off.

Almost instantly the blonde's eyes slipped close before she fell into a deep sleep. The set of tombs vanished in white sparks.

"W-What happened to her?" Xven choked in astonishment. "What did you _do_?"

"She's been placed in a deep sleep, similar to how Sora, Donald and Goofy were placed in for one year," Yuki answered. "In any case, Larxene's guess was correct. This is the power of the Maiden of Light."

Not before long, Yuki's pure white outfit transformed back into her normal clothes as she fell sideways with exhaustion. Riku swept in to catch her before her head hit the ground.

"Yuki, Yuki!" he shouted at her.

"I-I'm okay, Riku," she reassured in a stammer. "Sorry… I'm just a little tired. Summoning this form takes a whole lot of energy. So just to warn you, I'll probably have a habit of this every time I transform like that, so that would be at least 10 more times, one for each Organization member, obviously excluding Axel." _And Xven,_ she added mentally.

Xven approached them, and Riku's Keyblade appeared as he glared up at the 17-year-old warily.

"No, no, it's alright, Riku," Yuki assured quietly. "He's a friend. He remembers who he is. He's on our side now."

As the Keyblade vanished, Xven kneeled down next to them. "Yuki, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah… I'll be fine," she said. "Don't worry about me. No offense, but you should be getting back to the castle. Make it seem convincing like you've just been beaten up and Larxene has been captured and held prisoner."

"Got it… take good care of her," he told Riku before giving a curt nod and opening a portal back to the World That Never Was, leaving the two 16-year-old teens alone again.

"Mmm…" Yuki moaned, sitting up carefully while leaning against Riku's shoulder.

"Can you walk?" he asked worriedly.

"I-I think so," she answered unsurely.

Very carefully he helped her up, supporting her by wrapping an encouraging arm around her waist. Taking a step forward, she stumbled. Riku kneeled down and eased her onto his back, keeping a secure but loose grip onto her.

"Riku… it's alright, I can still walk. You can put me down," she told him quietly as she loosely wound her arms around his throat.

"You're still a little disoriented," he replied calmly. "If you're worried about being heavy, don't. You're really light."

Sighing, she rested her cheek on top of his shoulder, her hair tickling at his left cheek. "Thanks, Riku…" she murmured, glancing down at her pendant, which had a light rosy tint to it. "I guess that Sora and the others have taken care of the rest of the infestation."

"I guess so," he agreed. "In the meantime, let's get you back to Merlin's. I think you've got a little explaining to do with the others about all that 'Maiden of Light' issue. They're gonna want to know about how you can seal up Organization XIII members like that."

She chuckled quietly. "Probably," she murmured, suddenly raising her head to look at him a little better. "Hey Riku… You remember Xion, right? Do you think she could also possibly be alive? If she is, we need to tell Roxas and Axel."

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "From what I remember hearing, she was just a clone created from Sora's memories, designed to wield the Keyblade and collect hearts for the Organization."

"But even a clone has thoughts and feelings, Riku, even a Nobody clone," she argued. "Your clone did too. Almost how like Roxas, Naminé and Axel feel more than other Nobodies. They're unique compared to the others of Organization XIII, because they've realized that they _are_ Nobodies yet they feel the emotions of the heart, and they question it. Xven's beginning to be like that too. I guess it's because I reawakened his true memories."

"You make it sound so easy," he teased, "but remember, Xion had to disappear in order for Sora's memories of Kairi return to him." Glancing back at her, but her eyes had closed. "Hey, Yuki? You still with me?"

Blinking open her golden eyes, she glanced at him with a soft smile. "Yeah, just needed to close my eyes for a moment. I'm fine."

His aqua eyes softened in relief. "Good," he sighed. "We'd better hurry back before the rest of the others start to worry that we've been killed over here or something. Hang on tight."

He began to quicken his pace until he was practically sprinting with her on his back. About half-way there, a tentacle-like hand shot out from below the ground and wrapped around Riku's foot, causing him to trip, Yuki flying from his back and tumbling to the ground 10 meters in front of him, groaning in slight pain.

"Yuki, are you okay?" Riku called.

She struggled to get to her knees, but the fatigue from using her true powers was really taking a toll on her. All of a sudden, an invisible force pressed down on her back, sandwiching her to the ground as she let out a brief cry in pain.

"Yuki!" he cried out. A haze was visible above her, and a Super-Mega-Shadow fazed into view, standing on top of her, restraining her even though there was really no need.

Quickly leaping to his feet, he drew his Keyblade and ran at full speed towards the Heartless, tackling it with his shoulder as it was knocked away to a short distance as Riku landed swiftly on his feet as his girlfriend tried to get up onto her hands and knees, groaning quietly all the while.

"Take it easy," he advised her gently. "I'll take care of this."

Leaping forward, he parried at the Super-Mega-Shadow, weakening it until finally it vanished in rolls of smoke. Grunting in satisfaction, he turned back to look at Yuki. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving from her position on the ground, her body and cheek pressed against the cold rocks.

"Yuki?!" Riku gasped in fear, running over to pick her up in his arms. "Yuki, wake up! Are you alright?!"

She didn't respond, as if she was in a deep sleep. Her head tilted limply away from him, and he noticed the heart crystal pulsing with a pink light that was darkening gradually. Picking her up, he ran, carrying her the rest of the way back to Merlin's house.

_Come on Yuki,_ he thought urgently, _hang on just a little longer!_

- - - -

When he arrived, he was met by the others.

"Riku! Yuki!" Sora exclaimed.

"Hey, is she okay?!" Donald exclaimed.

Leon's eyes hardened. "We'll take her inside," he instructed, giving a nod to Riku as he carried her inside the house.

"Oh my," Merlin gasped. "Lay her down over here," he chided, gesturing towards the empty bed.

Very gently, he lowered her down onto the soft mattress, brushing hair away from her eyes. Looking at the crystal, it had darkened to a soft purple.

"We're running out of time," he told them, his voice strained and urgent. "Do you have any idea what could be causing this?"

Cid swung himself into his chair and looked up at his tracker, typing quickly at his keyboard as he looked up for any signs of Heartless and Nobodies. "Oh… damn…" he breathed.

"What is it?" Sora inquired.

"Maleficent and her Heartless are roundin' up at the same place as they were the last time down by the castle. Nearly by the millions, almost," he announced, his face stoic.

Riku's face darkened. "We need to get Yuki out of here, _now_. This overwhelming darkness will _kill_ her if she stays here too long," he growled.

"But we can't just _leave_ without taking care of the Heartless!" Donald protested.

Leon's face softened as he glanced at the dying girl. "Go," he said. "The rest of us can take care and hold down the fort. Yuki's more important because she's the Maiden of Light, not to mention one of our allies."

"Are you sure, Leon?" Sora asked, searching his friend's face to find any deception. There was none.

"Go," he said. "We'll alert you guys if things may get out of hand."

Giving their friends a nod, Riku swept Yuki back up into his arms as they boarded their Gummi Ship and departed Radiant Garden.

* * *

**Hope you liked this chapter!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Hearts of the Pride Lands

**So... yay! All of my exams are done now! Now I have a free week to do whatever! lol. **

**In any case, here's the next chapter! We're starting the journey to the other worlds, YAY! Note, I took some of the dialogue from the actual movie of The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, or at least... the beginning, considering that little bit is included in here. :D Enjoy!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
Disney (aka, the Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Five: Hearts of the Pride Lands

A lioness carefully stalked through the grassy field, quietly padding her paws on the ground. Hearing movement, her ear twitched before she pounced.

"AHHHHH!" a meerkat-warthog duo screamed before splitting apart.

The lioness seemed to recognize them and stopped. "Timon! Pumbaa! What are you both doing here?!" she snapped.

"Well, we were about to be _eaten_, thank you very much!" Timon snapped back hastily. "You really have to be careful where you pounce, Kiara. Sheesh!"

She narrowed her yellow eyes and glared at them. "Did my father send you?" she guessed, her voice lowering in anger.

"Um… yes," Pumbaa answered honestly before Timon elbowed him, "Uh- I-I mean no! No he didn't!"

"Darn it," she hissed, turning away. "He promised he wouldn't do this to me! I'm not 'Daddy's-Little-Girl' anymore! I can take care of myself, and I'm going to _prove_ it to him!"

Hurriedly speeding away so that Timon and Pumbaa could not catch up with her, she travelled further away from home for her first hunt, determined to prove to her father that she could take care of herself.

- - - - -

"So… where are we heading?" Chip the Chipmunk inquired.

"We've gotta go somewhere," Dale agreed.

Riku was sitting worriedly next to Yuki as he held her hand in his, watching as the pulsing purple light of her crystal begin to brighten back into a white light. He had laid her on a pull-out bed from the wall moments after they entered the Gummi Ship. A powerful breath entered her lungs as her eyes fluttered open within seconds.

"Yuki," he said quietly.

"W-Where am I?" she mumbled, sitting up with a hand on her forehead.

Sora ran over to them with a huge grin on his face. "Hey Yuki, you're finally awake. For a second there we were _really_ worried about you," he greeted.

"Sorry about that," she apologized, looking into Riku's worried aqua eyes. "I'm _really_ sorry for making you worry about me."

"As long as you're alright," he retorted, helping her onto her feet.

"Where are we off to?" Donald inquired.

Yuki walked over to the controls, typed quickly on the keyboard, and suddenly a picture screen came up, showing the concerned faces of Goofy, Queen Minnie, Daisy, Roxas, Kairi and Naminé.

"Daisy!" Donald gasped, happy to see the face of his beloved.

She looked just as surprised. "Donald!" she exclaimed happily.

"Guys, this isn't a social call, you know," Dale commented.

Yuki ignored them. "Hey guys, what's the status of Disney Castle?" she asked, her face tightened in concern.

"We've eliminated the Heartless threat here, but there wasn't any sign on Nobodies or Organization XIII," Roxas answered.

"How did you guys do at Radiant Garden, a-hyuck?" Goofy implored.

"Even _more_ Heartless had turned up after we defeated a wave of them," Sora explained. "Nobodies have been showing up there too."

Riku walked over so that he could be seen on the others' holographic screen. "And we've managed to contain one of the Organization XIII members," he added.

"We have?" Donald inquired.

Yuki dipped her head once in response. "Member No. 12, Larxene. Riku and I encountered her after we defeated our quadrant. Using magic, I've contained her in a set of crystal tombs. She's not dead nor disappearing, but placed in a deep sleep so she won't be bothering us," she explained.

"You can do that?!" Naminé exclaimed.

The 16-year-old nodded. "Queen Minnie, have you received any word from the King?" she asked.

The mouse queen shook her head. "I'm awfully worried," she sighed.

"We'll let you know if we hear from him," Riku assured.

"Sora, are you okay?" Kairi inquired worriedly.

He grinned. "Yeah, I'm fine. You take care of yourself too, Kairi," he replied. "We'll be heading to the Pride Lands next. You guys head to the Land of Dragons, and be careful, Organization XIII members may be there. Oh, say hi to Mulan and the others for Donald and me."

"Got it," Goofy determined. "Keep in touch."

"And be careful!" Queen Minnie added.

Yuki looked specifically at Roxas. "Roxas, the time to use those crystals I gave you may be at hand sooner than you think. Keep on your toes," she warned.

The blonde replied with an understanding nod.

As the transmission ended, Chip and Dale cheered, "To the Pride Lands it is, then!"

- - - - -

When Sora, Riku, Yuki and Donald were teleported down from their Gummi Ship onto the Pride Lands ruled by King Simba and Queen Nala, they were transformed into animals. Sora had transformed into a small cub, Riku and Yuki into a pair of slightly elder teenage lions, and Donald into a bird.

"Hmm… is this new to you?" Riku inquired, noticing Sora and Donald's calmness and ability to adapt so easily to the new forms.

"Nope," Sora replied. "It's happened to us before. It really _is_ amazing how fast we can run in this form."

Yuki swished her tail, her soft velvet black-coloured coat gleaming in the sunlight as she padded around, adjusting to her new form. Her crystal heart necklace dangled around her neck, pulsing with soft rosy light.

"I could get used to this," she murmured, stretching out her paws.

Riku padded over to her, his light pink fur contrasting his silver semi-mane. Purring, he brushed against her, touching noses with her.

"Where do you think Simba is, Sora?" Donald inquired.

"I don't know," the cub replied. "Let's go check out Pride Rock. Maybe he's there."

"Lead the way," Yuki encouraged.

Hurrying to the huge rock formation, Sora and Donald called out for their friends.

"Simba, Nala, are you here?" Sora called.

"Come on out if you're here!" Donald added.

Both the lion and lioness sped out of their cave, jumping down to them. Zazu, the king's hornbill major-domo, flew out after them to greet their friends.

"Sora! Donald! It's so good to see you both again!" Simba greeted.

"Are these your friends?" Nala inquired, glancing at Riku and Yuki.

Zazu hovered around the pair, inspecting them. "Looks like a peculiar pair, don't you think, your Majesty?"

"I'm Riku," the silver-haired teenage lion greeted, ignoring the tiny bird, "and this is Yuki, my um… mate, would it be?"

Desperation showed in Simba's eyes. "Guys, I need your help. My daughter, Kiara, has gone missing. We need to find her," he pleaded.

Yuki's ears pricked as her magically-heightened senses caught the sound of destruction. Turning, she began to run, her paws hitting the ground lightly as she sped across the land.

"Yuki!" Riku called after her as he and the others ran after her.

Simba, Nala and Riku easily caught up to her and ran alongside her. Sora and Donald struggled to keep up with them with shorter legs and wings.

"What is it?" Simba asked. "Did you catch her scent?"

The lioness glanced up towards the sky. "Smoke," she replied bluntly. "Let's hurry."

- - - - - -

As they neared the blazing inferno, they caught sight of a dark-furred young lion and a pale lioness seemingly talking together. They seemed just to be about a little older than Riku and Yuki themselves.

"Kiara!" Simba gasped, and they all hurried closer, Simba pouncing in front of the strange male and roaring ferociously.

"Kiara, you're alright!" Nala exclaimed happily, running over to nuzzle her daughter's cheek.

She brushed back against her mother for a moment before hissing at Simba. "Father, how could you break your promise?"

"It's a good thing I did," he retorted, his gaze not leaving the suspicious lion. "I almost lost you. No more hunts for you, not ever."

"But I was doing just fine!" Kiara protested, "Even before Kovu-"

"Kovu!" Simba hissed, growling as he now recognized the banished outsider.

Both Kovu and Simba began growling threateningly at each other before Yuki and Riku leapt in between them.

"Stop it, both of you!" Sora shouted.

Suddenly, the wise mandrill Rafiki called out from behind Simba, "Hey, you! How dare you save the king's daughter!" he called in false anger with a smile.

"You saved her?" Simba said in wonder. "Why?"

Kovu looked at him. "I wish to join your pride."

"No!" he roared immediately, "You were banished with the other outsiders."

"I've left the outsiders," the young lion reasoned. "I'm a rogue. Judge me now, for who I am. Or am I to blame for a crime I didn't commit."

"Are we talking about Scar here?" Sora inquired in confusion.

"Quiet down, Sora," Donald told him.

Yuki glanced at Simba. "Simba…" she said quietly, "I don't know about you, but I see little _true_ darkness within him. I believe he can be mostly trusted. I'm sure he'll be good." She smiled warmly at Kovu, surprising him at her easiness.

"But he's an _outsider_!" the king hissed.

"Yeah, but he doesn't _seem_ bad," Sora argued.

Riku and Yuki suddenly exchanged wary glances as they sensed danger approaching.

"Something's wrong here," Riku commented, "and I don't mean this Kovu guy either. Something's coming."

Yuki glanced up at the smoke-filled sky. "I agree. Let's get out of here," she agreed.

Without warning, they heard another growl, and all of them turned to see a shadow lioness stalk out from the tall grasses, more following her.

"Oh no, not good," Sora commented as they all began to back up together, making his Keyblade appear between his jaws.

Yuki's crystal pulsed violently with blazing red alert light. "They're all Heartless, every single one of them," she hissed warily. "They're called Leoness. Be careful. They'll bite and attack like any other lion or lioness."

Riku's Keyblade phased into his own jaw, while Yuki unsheathed her claws, letting out a single roar before leaping at a Leoness, biting down on its throat as she clawed at its shadow pelt before it vanished, a captured heart flying out and being released.

Rafiki let out a war cry before whacking his stick around and attacking several Leonesses.

They all began to attack the Heartless surrounding them, and a bunch leaped and piled onto Yuki, nipping and biting at her fur before she threw them all off with a swipe of her paw.

"There are too many of them!" Sora tried to shout, his words muffled with the Keyblade in his mouth.

"Fall back!" Simba shouted, knocking away several Heartless from Nala.

Kovu swiped away some Heartless from Kiara. "What _are_ these things?!"

"We'll explain when we get back!" Donald called.

Yuki looked back at her friends. "Go! I'll hold them off!"

"I'm staying with you!" Riku hissed, almost clearly audibly.

"GO!" she snapped back, knocking him towards the others as they began to run off back to Pride Rock. "I'll be right after you."

As the rest of the group hurried off, Yuki remained to summon up a powerful wave of destructive light, the white aura flaring around her, the light deflecting the Heartless and causing them to back off. Closing her golden eyes and letting out a powerful roar, the flash of light caused all the Heartless in the area to vanish before she collapsed onto her side, her sides heaving as her eyes fluttered weakly with exhaustion.

_Hmm… this may be interesting…_ she thought as she slowly rose onto her haunches.

- - - - - -

After they had gained a bit of distance from the burning field and the Heartless, Riku halted to turn around, searching for his beloved lioness.

"Guys, go on ahead," he told them. "I'll be coming after you guys soon."

"I'll come with you," Sora offered, looking up at Donald, "you go back with Simba and the others."

Both lions dashed off back in the direction they came from, Sora trying hard to catch up with Riku with his elder form compared to his cub form.

"Yuki!" Riku shouted as he saw the lioness lick her paw before washing her face, rubbing warily against a small cut by her ear as she was lying on her stomach.

"Oh, Riku, Sora," she murmured, sitting back on her haunches. "Did you guys escape fine?"

"We're fine," Sora answered. "How about you? You look weakened and injured."

The lioness sighed. "I'll be better after I get some healing rest," she responded quietly. "Let's hurry back to Pride Rock before someone decides to come back out here and search for us."

"Can you walk back?" Riku asked.

"I'll need some help, yes," she answered honestly, "but otherwise, I think I can manage."

Gently he supported her by pressing his flank against hers, helping her to lean on him. Sora went on her other side, supporting her to keep her from collapsing over. As they went back to the large rock formation, Yuki's eyes averted to the sky, a glint of blue shimmering into her golden eyes.

"Hmm…" she muttered, stopping in her tracks.

Both boys stopped beside her.

"Something wrong?" Riku said.

She didn't answer, continuing to stare up at the sky. Sora leaped onto her back and laid his head down on hers, pawing at both her ears. "Yuki, are you alright?"

"Oh…" she murmured, her eyes glancing up at the cub. "Sorry boys, got a little distracted there. Before either of you ask me what was that about, I think there's something's going on in this world that's really bugging me. I'm not sure what it is," she explained, "but it's really annoying like an itch in my mind. And my crystal's feeling a little strange too. I suspect it's because of the growing problems of Heartless in this world."

"Do you want us to go check things out?" Riku inquired curiously.

She shook her head gently, making sure Sora didn't fall off. "It's okay, I'll go," she responded.

"Riku," Sora began before his best friend could protest, "why don't you go back and gather some information with Donald about what's going on here, as well as this Kovu guy and why is he so different. Yuki and I will go check things out."

His aqua eyes hardened as he glanced at his lioness girlfriend. "Are you sure you can do this?" he asked, worry straining his voice.

"Yeah, I can manage," she replied, giving him a wink. "After all, the Keyblade Master will be with me to get us out in a hitch if something happens." At his unchanging concerned look, she gave his face a reassuring lick. "Don't worry, Riku, we'll take care of each other. Everything will be alright, okay?"

He licked her ear lovingly, pressing his muzzle against hers. "Yuki, please be careful," he whispered quietly. "I love you."

She pulled back, smiling at him before brushing her muzzled against his neck. "I love you too. Careful trip back, and wish us luck!"

"Good luck you two," he wished, teasingly pawing Sora on the head. "Be careful, Sora. Protect Yuki for me, 'kay?"

"Got it!" the cub cheered happily as he raised a paw. "We'll see you soon!"

Giving Riku a brief nod, Yuki dashed off, Sora holding onto her fur as she ran off to the direction near the former fire where rain was beginning to fall. Trouble was nearing…

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	7. The Darkness Lives On

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**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney characters (c) Disney****  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Six: The Darkness Lives On

"Do you know where we're going?" Sora inquired as Yuki quietly stalked through the tall grass.

She glanced up at him. "Yes, in fact, I do," she answered positively. "Do you think you're up for this challenge?"

He grinned eagerly. "Let's do this," he declared boldly, but then his grin dropped into a frown of curiosity, "except where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see…" the lioness murmured. "I'm not exactly sure what its called, but I guess we'll know when we get there."

As she sensed that they fast approached their destination, she slowed down to a halt and quietly began to stalk through the grass. Sora leaped off her back and next to her, crouching down low.

"I take it we're almost there?" he whispered quietly.

"Shhh…" she hushed, unsheathing her claws as they neared the end of the tall grass, a gathering of dark-pelted lionesses in view.

"Kovu is being brought to Pride Rock now as we speak!" the head lioness announced. "Now we will wait for Kovu's return to announce that Simba is dead!"

Sora gasped quietly, looking at Yuki. "We've got to stop Kovu before its too late," he hissed.

"Wait," Yuki breathed, "look."

Both of them stared at Zira, and saw a purple-black aura swirling around her. A sure sign of a heart of evil.

"Zira, where is Nuka and Vitani?" a lioness asked.

"They've gone to do some hunting after they reported in from their mission," she answered proudly. "They did very well with burning the field."

Yuki's eyes narrowed. _So they must have been the ones who set the fire,_ she suspected.

"What are we going to do?" Sora whispered next to her.

"Eavesdrop," she breathed quietly. "There's an old evil aura surrounding her. I suspect that it will come into play soon enough."

The lioness was right. The purple-black aura around Zira expanded, and her followers gasped as now it was in their sight. A yellow-eyed lion was forming from the aura, his purple mane wisps of darkness against a black shadow body.

_I've seen that lion before!_ Sora thought in shock, _That's Scar, Simba's uncle!_

"Scar!" Zira gasped as she whirled around to see the fearsome lion.

"I'm only a shadow of what I used to be," he stated. "How is my chosen successor Kovu doing?"

Sora couldn't help but shout, "He's not going to get anywhere _near_ Simba if I'm around!"

All eyes turned to the grass where he and Yuki were formally hiding.

"Sora…" Yuki sighed as both stood up so they could be seen. Glaring at the Scar shadow, she declared, "You know you won't get away with this. And I mean, _any_ of this."

The other lionesses unsheathed their claws and rose their hackles threateningly as they began to gather around the two Keybladers.

"Oh, you really think so?" Scar inquired amusingly.

"We got rid of you once, we can do it again!" Sora protested bravely.

"Well, Sora," Yuki began, glancing at the cub, "this is an excellent example of hearts being twisted for evil purposes. There's the followers who follow the one who leads them."

The Keyblade appeared in his mouth, and he glanced warily at the lionesses. Suddenly Zira pounced, claws extended, at Yuki, and she leapt back, avoiding the slash at her throat. Immediately Yuki leaped at the Scar shadow, sinking her fangs into his smoky neck, her claws slashing at his dark fur. The shadow roared as if in defiance and pain.

"Scar!" Zira cried as she clawed Yuki's pelt, drawing blood before biting her hind leg hard. But the blood could not be seen against her black pelt.

In response, Yuki pulled her teeth off Scar to swipe Zira off, limping back before ducking a swipe to her head before she used her weight to throw herself against Zira, barrelling her into the grass where she clawed at the dark lioness' throat unsuccessfully.

Zira let out a roar before surprising Yuki with a powerful swipe to her head, making her vision swim for a moment before she heard a familiar cry.

"Help!" Sora exclaimed.

Quickly Yuki forced herself shook off the dizziness before going to assist her younger friend.

Sora was facing off against the rest of the lionesses at Zira's command, blocking claws with his Keyblade and dodging under a flurry of legs to actually do some damage. Knowing that the both of them were greatly outnumbered, Yuki picked up Sora by the nape with her teeth.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, finding himself suddenly dangling in the air by the back of his neck.

Hurriedly, Yuki dashed off the best she could with three good legs and one injured one, escaping the few lionesses who gave chase before Zira called them off.

"Are you alright?" Sora inquired, glancing up the best he could at the older lioness.

"No…" she replied in a muffle as she continued to run, trying to keep her mind clear so her head wouldn't start hurting and making her vision swim even more.

The younger cub felt a sting of guilt, as he had caused the both of them to be exposed. But he would apologize for it later. Right now, he had to remember everything they had heard and experienced.

Sighing quietly, inaudible against Yuki's thump of paws against the ground, Sora commented, "We've got a lot to tell the others."

- - - -

"So… that's what happened…" Riku murmured after Simba had explained the story of why Kovu and the outsiders were banished from the Pride Lands.

The group of them were near the cave up on Pride Rock, talking quietly as they awaited their friends.

"Yeah, Scar was a really bad guy," Nala agreed.

Donald looked out across the Pride Lands, lit only by the hundreds of glimmering stars in the sky. It was already dark, and Yuki and Sora still hadn't returned. "I hope they're okay," the duck-now-bird commented.

"They're strong, so they should be fine," Simba assured.

"So… what are these 'Heartless' things?" Kiara inquired.

Kovu looked puzzled too. "Yeah, what _are_ they?" he asked.

"Beings without hearts," Riku summarized, "it's a really long story. The Heartless can take on any shape or form, but all Heartless have some sort of mark to show that they're Heartless, with the exception of the basic Shadow. Some Heartless have the ability to possess people with darkened hearts."

"Where do they come from?" Kovu queried, glancing at the younger lion.

"They're created from the darkness in everyone's heart," Donald answered."If there's a lot of them, or a really powerful one, they're not something you'd wanna mess with."

Suddenly, one-by-one, each lion and lioness' ears pricked with the incoming sound of paws running briskly on the ground. Riku and Donald immediately went to the top of Pride Rock to look for their friends, and when their gazes fell upon the cub dangling from a lioness' mouth, they hurried down to greet them, followed by the others.

"Sora! Yuki!" Riku exclaimed, bouncing over to them in joy before he saw the blood glistening from Yuki's wounds, as well as the bruises on Sora.

Yuki gently let Sora down, sighing heavily before touching noses with Riku. "Hey," she croaked in a dry voice.

"What happened to you two?" Nala gasped.

"We encountered a suspicious-looking group of lionesses," Sora answered as he adjusted back to being on the ground on all four paws.

_Mother!_ Kovu thought in great worry, but forced himself to hold his tongue at risk of revealing his mission. Kiara could see concern glimmering in his eyes.

"You're hurt," Simba said, his gaze lingering at the still-bleeding wounds on Yuki's right flank and right leg. "Come, we'll get Rafiki to help make a poultice for you."

The lioness' vision swam for a moment as her exhaustion and wounds finally reached her, a pulsing throbbing at her temple where Zira had hit her, before she collapsed onto her side on the ground, her eyes drifting close. Not too long afterwards, Sora dropped onto his belly tiredly, his own eyes shut tight.

"Sora! Yuki!" Donald cried out, nosing the young cub with his beak as he tried to get a response.

"Come on," Riku murmured to himself as he nosed his lioness' head.

Nala gently pawed at Yuki's limp body. "Both of them must be exhausted," she said calmly.

"Riku, Kovu, get Yuki up at the entrance of the cave, Kiara, Donald, take Sora. Nala will help you guys if you need it. I'll go get Rafiki," Simba ordered before leaping to find the wise old mandrill.

Easily, Kiara grabbed Sora by the nape and jumped up towards the cave entrance. Riku gently slid under Yuki, making sure not to hurt her, before standing up on his paws, the lioness draped across him limply. Carefully, Kovu made sure she didn't slip off as they travelled up to the cave entrance.

_Why do I feel like I care so much about these two?_ Kovu thought, glancing at Sora and Yuki, _I only just _met_ the two of them! I've gotta say though, they both have a bad judge of character. What's this junk about 'not-having-a-lot-of-true-darkness-in-my-heart' thing? I have to kill Simba in order to become king of the Pride Lands._

Riku looked really worried as Kovu gently helped him lay Yuki down onto her stomach on the huge bed of rock. Then Riku laid down next to her, resting his head comfortingly on top of hers, purring gently in reassurance to her.

_Is that what true love is?_ Both Kiara and Kovu thought simultaneously as they watched the teenage lion gently lick his girlfriend's face affectionately.

"Mmm…" Yuki moaned, blinking open her eyes to raise her head to stare into the eyes of her love, "Riku?"

Sighing with relief, he rubbed his muzzle against her face. "Yuki, thank goodness you're alright. Don't move, you're still injured," he replied.

"Yeah," Donald agreed, settling down on the ground, "you're still bleeding."

"Not _that_ badly. I probably just passed out from the concussion I received from Zira," she told them reassuringly. "I'll be fine after some rest."

A spark of guilt flashed in Kovu's eyes as he heard that before his warrior's reserve returned to him.

"How's Sora doing?" she asked.

Kiara looked down at the unconscious cub. "Passed out," she answered.

"Strange…" she murmured, resting her head back down on the ground. "I don't recall dropping him. So I probably think that he got a few head hits himself during the fight."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Kovu inquired.

"We were listening in to their conversations before Sora shouted out, and then we were attacked. Being outnumbered greatly, it's not too surprising that we needed to run," she explained. "Unfortunately, the battle didn't go as well as we had hoped. That's why I had to grab Sora and head off as quick as I could. We couldn't risk falling unconscious or growing too weak and injured."

"Shhh…" Riku hushed, giving her ear a reassuring lick, "it's alright."

Simba, Nala, and Rafiki hurried over to them, Rafiki holding a bowl of what looked like a creamy orange mixture of strange medicines.

"Yuki! You're awake!" Nala exclaimed.

Simba lowered his head next to hers. "How do you feel?" he asked curiously and worriedly.

"Well… I _do_ feel a little dizzy. Otherwise, the only thing that stings is the wounds," she answered with a sigh. "After a good night's rest, I'll probably be fine."

Rafiki dipped his fingers into the mixture before spreading it on the still-bleeding wounds, Yuki letting out a quick pained roar before holding another one back and wincing at the powerful sting of the medicine's affects.

"Will she be alright?" Riku inquired, looking at the mandrill.

"Oh yes, she will be just fine," he replied coolly, patting her on the head with his other hand, causing her to blink and look up at the mandrill.

"Thank you," her boyfriend sighed with relief.

After Rafiki finished tending to her wounds, he checked over the unconscious cub known as Sora, gently rubbing some aromatic oil on the cub's forehead.

"That will help him rest easier," the mandrill told them. "Now… both of you need some good night sleep and you'll be all right in the morning. Good night."

Nala walked over and picked up Sora in between her jaws.

"Come into the cave and sleep," Simba offered Yuki and Riku.

"It's alright," Riku reasoned, "we'll stay out here."

Yuki smiled. "Yeah, after all, I don't want to move my leg too much until it heals up in the morning," she reasoned.

"If you insist," Kiara said, glancing at them worriedly before she and Kovu followed Nala and Simba to the cave entrance.

Suddenly, Simba turned to look at Kovu. "You sleep outside," he said sternly, his voice showing signs that there was going to be no argument on the subject.

"But Father-" Kiara began.

"No," Kovu cut off, "Kiara, it's alright. I'll sleep outside. Good night."

Simba dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Good night."

After the lioness followed after her father, Kovu laid down on his stomach in front of the entrance.

"Hey, do you want to come and join us over here, Kovu?" Yuki called over, flicking her tail.

He looked a little surprised as he glanced over at them. "Can I?"

"Come on, we won't bite," Riku joked.

The lion stalked over to the couple and laid down on Yuki's other side. Yuki rested a paw over Riku's, and she smiled at him, twining her tail with his.

"I love you, Riku," she told him quietly, brushing her cheek against his.

"I love you too," he responded, purring against her.

Resting his head down on their paws, she followed suit, resting her head next to his.

"Good night, Yuki, Kovu," Riku sighed, closing his eyes.

"Good night, Riku, Kovu," Yuki chimed.

Kovu blinked in surprise at their familiarity. "Good night, Yuki. Good night, Riku," he replied quietly.

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	8. Atlantica, the Return to the Sea

**Yay! Next stop; Atlantica!**

**Yes, this is slightly based off "The Little Mermaid 2", however, there probably won't be a lot of appearances made here, because it would be difficult to explain the 12(?) year time gap to when Melody actually discovers her merfolk heritage.  
In addition, some of the discussions are taken from the movie, so it's safe to place a _SPOILER WARNING!!!!_ on here. so yeah. :D**

**Anyway... enough of that. Please enjoy!**

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**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Normura  
Disney (The Little Mermaid 2, etc...) (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Seven: Atlantica, the Return to the Sea

As the sun began to rise and it was only the bare break of dawn, Sora stirred awake, yawning tiredly as he found himself lying on the side of Simba's cave near the king and queen, as well as their daughter.

_Hmmm… I wonder where Yuki and Riku are,_ he thought in question as he stood up on all four paws, stretching with a feline yawn before shaking out his fur.

Quietly stalking out of the cave with soft steps, he saw Yuki and Riku curled up together, laying side-by-side, and then he noticed that Kovu was sleeping with them. Anger bristled through his dark fur as he recalled the conversation he and Yuki had overheard from Zira.

However, a single thought and question suppressed his anger. _But… why would Yuki still remain relaxed near him, even though she knows he's been sent here to kill Simba?!_ He wondered.

As Sora neared, Yuki's tail twitched with the approaching presence. Her eyes fluttered open with awareness and she slipped her head from under Riku's and turned her head around to look at the cub.

"Good morning, Sora," she greeted quietly.

"Morning, Yuki," he greeted gently in reply as he padded over to her.

Yuki yawned tiredly before looking at Sora. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Much better than what happened yesterday," he answered softly. "How about you; are you feeling okay?"

She yawned again. "Well… yeah, but I'd prefer to sleep in. But then I know we don't really have that sort of time, considering we've got places to go."

Sora's eyes were warily set on Kovu's still-sleeping form. He didn't have to say anything and she could already tell what was wrong.

"I know what you must be thinking about Kovu," she told him quietly. "But just trust my judgement. In any case… we've over-welcomed our stay here, Sora. For now… we must allow things to unfold, in the meantime, we will move on to the next world. When its time, then we will return to finish what we've started."

"B-But Simba-" Sora broke off.

"I trust his judgement will be the right one," she said. "We shouldn't interfere."

Sora's face look strained, his expression a mix of emotions; pain, confusion, and conflict.

The lioness could only smile. "It's alright," she assured, "things will turn out all right in the end. It's time we move on. I'll wake Riku." Leaning down to give her boyfriend a gentle lick on the cheek, she whispered gently to him.

"Come on, Riku, wake up," she chided, and the young lion stirred, aqua eyes fluttering open.

"Mmm?" he moaned.

She smiled, very gently nosing him. "We've got to get going, so come on," she told him quietly.

Looking at her, he smiled, letting out a quiet yawn as he rose to all fours, stretching out every muscle in his body before shaking out his mane.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"According to Yuki, we're leaving this world for the time being," Sora answered.

She dipped her head in agreement. "We need to move on," she said softly, "we'll come back at some time when it is most needed."

"What will we tell the others?" Riku inquired.

"Simba will know that we've left," Sora assured."So we don't have to worry about that."

Yuki flicked her tail, signalling to them to follow her as she made her way down Pride Rock, the two boys following after her. Closing her eyes, a portal to the Gummi Ship appeared in front of them.

"Whoa!" the younger cub gasped. "Did you do that?"

"Nah," she replied, "I just contacted Chip and Dale. It's a lot easier that way, you know?"

As they were teleported back onto the Gummi Ship, they had transformed back into their normal selves. Yuki swayed sideways momentarily before steadying herself at the same time Riku placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Are you really okay, Yuki?" he asked worriedly, "Are you still weak from the blood loss last night?"

She shook her head. "I'll be fine," she reasoned. "All I really need is to find a more Heartless-free place. That will help me heal a little better." _And perhaps faster too,_ she added mentally.

"Hmmm… let's head to Atlantica!" Sora exclaimed suddenly. "The last time we went there weren't any Heartless there at all!"

Yuki and Riku exchanged a glance.

"We could give it a try," Yuki suggested. "After all, if there _are_ Heartless there, we could take them out at the same time."

"Sounds good to me," he agreed. "Let's do it."

As both 16-year-old's walked off to talk to Chip and Dale, Donald leaned closer to Sora so his voice wouldn't carry over to the others.

"Sora, are you _sure_ there aren't going to be any Heartless there?" the court magician inquired, "After all, for all we know, there could be hundreds of Heartless and Nobodies just waiting for us there."

"We have to take that chance," Sora responded. "Yuki's life relies on the light in the worlds. The least we could do is take her to one where there isn't any Heartless or Nobodies. Plus, we've got to check up on how Ariel and the others are doing anyway."

Donald looked worried. "But Sora… haven't you noticed that each world we go to, Yuki weakens every day?" he asked quietly. "I'm not quite sure whether Riku has noticed it yet, but if he hasn't, we need to let him know."

"But… she'll be fine, right?" the 15-year-old asked optimistically.

The magician didn't look convinced. "We can't just let it go, Sora. Even if we don't want it to be true, we've got to acknowledge that it's still possible," he explained. "Her life is at stake here. If we mess up and bring her to darkness-flooded world's, Yuki's going to die."

- - -

"Ah, we're here," Chip announced.

"Then let's go," Sora said as he and the rest of them teleported down to the watery world, almost instantly being transformed into aquatic creatures.

Sora was a half-dolphin-boy, his lower half of his body being transformed into a dolphin's tail and fins. Donald was a half-octopus, and Riku and Yuki had become a merman and mermaid respectively.

_Hmmm… we're like this once more, huh?_ Yuki thought as she looked over herself and swished her azure blue tail. Looking over at Riku, she could only guess that he was thinking something along similar lines as he experimented some swimming with his dark blue tail. She looked down at the crystal pendant floating against her breastbone and saw that it glowed a light pink, a sign that showed little Heartless and Nobody activity in that world.

Yuki couldn't help but breathe out a sigh in relief, her body relaxing from tension and stress. The darkness wasn't trying to pry into her mind and heart as much as it did before, therefore it was a huge relief to her.

"You okay?" Riku asked, placing a hand on her bare shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly. The scars from their last encounter with an underwater Nobody still remained, and his fingers ran over the magic-stitched wounds.

She offered him a soft smile. "Yeah, I'm feeling a little better now," she answered calmly.

Love radiated from his eyes, and he leaned over to kiss her, his arms winding around her waist as hers slid around his neck, their lips locked in passion.

"Hmmm… the lovers are at it again," Sora commented with a grin.

Both Riku and Yuki pulled back, looking at the 15-year-old.

"You know we can hear you, Sora," Yuki informed teasingly, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"Now… let's go find Ariel and the others," Donald said, trying to help Sora.

Riku let his fingers run through Yuki's floating black hair before grabbing her hand and tugging her towards the large underwater castle.

"There's the palace, so let's go," Sora urged as the four of them swam towards Atlantica's palace.

"Mmm…" Yuki groaned tiredly, as she wrapped her arms around Riku's neck, his back pressing against her stomach.

His hand rested over hers as he swam for the both of them. "Don't worry, Yuki," he assured. "I'll take care of you."

Closing her eyes, she rested against Riku as he swam them to the castle.

- - - -

"King Triton," Sora greeted when they saw the king of Atlantica sitting upon his chair, his trident in hand.

"Oh… hello there, Sora, Donald," the king replied. "And who are these merpeople with you?"

Yuki released her hold on Riku and gave a gracious bow, and he followed suit. "My name is Yuki, Your Majesty. I'm a friend of theirs."

"And I'm Riku," Riku continued, "Sora's best friend."

"Well hello there, and welcome to Atlantica," King Triton announced proudly.

Donald noticed that something was wrong. "Your Majesty, is something the matter?"

"Well… yes, and no," he answered honestly, "time has passed by just astoundingly. Ariel and Eric are coming by on ship to present their new baby daughter."

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. "Ariel has a daughter now?!"

He nodded.

"But… what's the problem with that?" Yuki inquired curiously. "Shouldn't that be a joyous time to celebrate?"

"Yes," he responded, "however, I'm just worried that there may be some possible unwanted guests, such as those Heartless that popped up last time."

"Don't worry, we'll be here to make sure that doesn't happen!" Donald determined.

"He's right," Sora agreed. "In addition, we have to congratulate Ariel and Prince Eric too!"

Yuki closed her eyes and her right hand, a bright light erupting from her clenched-up palm. As the light faded and she opened up her hand, a six-point star pendant necklace now in her hand. "And we also have to deliver a special present for the new princess. This star will always show her the way home with a stream of golden light."

"Wait, but would her 'home' mean Atlantica or Prince Eric's castle on land?" Sora inquired.

The 16-year-old smiled at him. "Her home is where her heart is," she answered mystically, flashing a wider smile at Riku, who grinned back at her in understanding.

Riku returned his attention to King Triton. "Your Majesty, when are they coming?" he asked.

"They should be arriving soon," he replied. "Sebastian and Flounder will come back to alert us when they see the ship coming."

Without warning, a tiny crab and blue and yellow striped fish hurriedly swam towards them.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Sebastian exclaimed. "They're almost here! Princess Ariel and Prince Eric are almost here! And they have Melody!"

The aquatic king instantly left his throne and began to swim in a hurry with his guards following after him, Sebastian and Flounder swimming towards Sora and the group.

"Hey! Sebastian! Flounder!" Sora called, waving his hand in greeting.

"Hello there," Yuki greeted, chuckling as Flounder swam around her. "I'm Yuki, it's nice to meet you both."

"I'm Flounder!" the fish exclaimed. "And this is Sebastian."

"Hey, I'm Riku," Riku introduced, smiling.

The tiny red crab took Yuki's hand in his claw. "It's very nice to meet you, milady," he greeted. "How have you been, Sora, Donald?"

"Just great!" Donald replied. "Except for the fact that Heartless are turning up all over the place again. How about you guys?"

Flounder looked proud. "I'm no longer a guppy anymore!" he declared boldly. "It's like time just flew by while _nobody_ was looking."

"Let's go!" Sora cheered before they swam off, all except Yuki and Riku.

"Hey, come on. Is something wrong?" he inquired.

She tensed suddenly, a flash of red sparking in her eyes as a powerful dark aura flashed around her, burning around her for moments before she reverted back to her old self, the darkness fading. The single word '_nobody'_ burned itself into her memory, as if it was a huge part of her past.

"Yuki!" Riku gasped quietly, reaching out for her as the red soon faded away from her golden orbs.

"Ugh…" she groaned, closing her eyes as she slipped backwards against Riku as he held her against his chest, one arm wrapped around her stomach.

"Are you okay?" he asked, brushing her hair down with his hand.

She shook her head, leaning her head back against his shoulder. "I-I saw something…" she murmured. "Words… _Memories_…"

His aqua eyes looked worried. "Yuki…" he whispered gently.

"I-I'm losing myself, Riku," she choked out, mentally breaking down. "W-With these… _visions_ I'm seeing; these _memories,_ I-I don't know who I am anymore." _I'm losing the fight…_ she thought, recalling the voice that had pulled her from consciousness back on Destiny Islands. _I really won't make it through this war… I-I'm losing heart… _my_ heart…. But I can't give up my light… not yet._

The merman turned her around, crashing his lips against hers as he pulled her close, her heart beating furiously against his before pulling her against him, her cheek pressed against his shoulder.

"I will always be here for you," he promised. "_I _will know who you truly are, because that is the girl I fell in love."

She smiled weakly as she felt her body begin to grow numb and limp in his arms.

Hurriedly, she shook off the sleep tugging at her consciousness, and pulled back, forcing a wider smile.

"Thanks, Riku," she said quietly.

Riku knew his girlfriend was weakening and running out of time. They needed to heal the worlds fast, or else he was going to lose her, and that was the _last_ thing he wanted. He had given into the darkness once, and for that, he had lost the ability to become the Master of the Keyblade, of who is was truly supposed to be. But now, as Sora had that title and ability, he didn't want to make the same mistake of letting the one he loved losing to the darkness. If he did, he would lose the most important person in his life.

"Now come on…" Yuki chided gently, pulling on his hand up with her as she broke him out of his reverie. "We don't want to miss the ship and Princess Ariel's daughter."

He followed along, wrapping his arm around her waist as they both swam to the surface.

A beautiful red-haired woman with bright blue eyes stood on deck of the huge ship, a black-haired bundle in her arms. She waved at Sora and Donald happily.

"Sora! Donald! It's good to see the both of you again!" she called.

"Us too, Ariel!" Sora exclaimed as he leaped into the air. "Congratulations!"

As King Triton presented Melody with a beautiful golden seashell locket with her name engraved on it, the cute little baby giggled as the locket opened, and a special hologram-like display of Atlantica appeared, a sweet melody filling the air.

"Thank you, Daddy," Ariel thanked quietly.

Yuki and Riku popped up from the water, Yuki using her magic to let a pair of shimmering transparent wings of a fairy appear on her back, lifting her from the water and towards the happy human couple. She bowed from the waist to them.

"Hello, my name is Yuki, I'm a friend of Sora's," she greeted.

"Hey! I am too!" Riku added, leaping into the air into their sights. "I'm Riku!"

His girlfriend chuckled. "On behalf of the both of us, congratulations."

"Hi, I'm Ariel, my husband Eric, and this is Melody," she said. "Thank you."

"This special gift is from us," she continued. The winged mermaid made the necklace appear, placing it around Melody's neck, where it now could recognized who it's bearer was and shone a bright golden light.

"Now wherever you are, wherever you may be, just believe in yourself, and the light from this pendant will take you home," she told the little baby girl, even though she very well knew that Melody didn't understand her.

"Thank you," Ariel thanked gratefully, hugging her daughter tightly as Yuki's wings shimmered away before she did a back-flip and dive back into the water next to Riku. As she loosened her hold so her father could place the locket around her neck, a dark tentacle suddenly shot out from the water and wrapped around the young baby, snatching her from her parents.

"Melody!" Ariel gasped.

The tentacle retuned to a dark, octopus old woman with long grey hair and an old but slim figure.

"AHHH!!!! Ursula's crazy sister!" Sebastian exclaimed in horror.

"I didn't miss the cake and ice cream , did I?" the sea witch teased, tickling under Melody's chin with a finger before cackling.

"Morgana!" Triton hissed, his trident glowing with power.

Sora, Donald, Yuki and Riku could see the unnaturally powerful dark aura glowing around the octopus-woman. She was obviously allied with Maleficent, or else there was no other way she could have gotten that power.

"Surrender the baby or else-" Triton threatened before Morgana cut him off.

"Ah, ah, ah," she warned with a smile, giving Melody a kiss on the cheek, and the king instantly knew the advantage she had. "My sister would have _loved_ to come, but something came up." She began to climb up the side of the ship as she continued. "Now, now, now what was it? Oh yes… you all _shish-kabobbed _her!"

Eric pulled Ariel tighter against him as they watched as Morgana tossed the baby in the air with her tentacle as she kept on talking.

"One minute you're on top, the next you're sushi. Now is that fair, I ask you," Morgana continued. "But then, whoever said we have to play fair?" She chuckled, calling in a sweet tone. "Oh undertow!"

As she called, a dark fin rose from the waters, followed by piercing yellow eyes and the full body of a black and purple shark.

"Make way, little Mershrimp!" he growled, pushing away various merfolk with his powerful snout, "I'm coming through!" Reaching the edge of the boat, he smiled, revealing rows of sharp teeth as he opened up, where Morgana dangled Melody over the jaws.

"We've got to stop her," Sora said as he looked at his friends.

"Right," they agreed.

He looked at them. "Okay, Riku, Yuki, rescue Melody. Donald and I will take that shark." The four of them disappeared under the water where they split up into their two teams.

"Now hand over the trident or your precious granddaughter will be shark chow," Morgana threatened King Triton.

The king of Atlantica look pained. "You can have anything you want," he gave in, "just don't harm little Melody."

"Well, well," Morgana declared proudly, "I get the trident, avenge poor unfortunate Ursula, and gain all the powers of the ocean, and it's not even ten o'clock."

"Well it is on our watch!" Sora exclaimed, leaping out of the water and tackling the shark underwater with his Keyblade.

Both Riku and Yuki instantly leaped from the water following Morgana's angry cry, Riku smacking Morgana's tentacle holding Melody with his Keyblade. Melody flew from her grip, and as Morgana's shark friend leaped out of the water, jaws opened wide to catch the baby, Yuki leaped towards her at the same time. With perfect aim, King Triton shot the shark with a ray of light at the same time Sora shot it with his Keyblade, where it transformed into a tiny piranha-looking fish. Yuki grabbed Melody, holding her against her chest as shimmering wings appearing on her back before she fluttered over to Ariel and Eric, who took back their daughter gratefully.

"Melody!" Ariel gasped with joy. "Thank you!"

In the water, the now-tiny fish exclaimed, "What have you done to me?! Look at me! I'm an anchovy!"

Yuki's Keyblade flashed into her hand as she dived through the air towards Morgana, knocking her off the ship as both collided into the water. Suddenly, Morgana popped up and shouted as she swam away, "This isn't the end, Triton! This is only the beginning!"

"After her!" King Triton declared, his guards immediately swimming towards the witch as a black whirlpool formed underwater.

Riku, Sora and Donald dived under to swim towards the whirlpool, looking for their comrade at the same time. Yuki was swimming in the midst of the whirlpool, her face twisted into slight pain as the darkness was all around her, trying to infiltrate her heart. She held her Keyblade held in front of her defensively as a kind of shield.

"Yuki!" Riku called, but it appeared that she couldn't move.

Morgana snickered as she appeared in front of the mermaid. "So _you're_ the Yuki Maleficent was telling me about," she cackled, a dark swirling orb appearing in her hand. "This is a gift from her." She pushed the dark black and purple orb into Yuki's chest, causing her to gasp as darkness began to consume her from the inside out.

"Yuki!" Sora cried out, but they could not reach nor breach the whirlpool.

The Keyblade vanished from her grasp, both hands fluttering against her chest. Another item appeared in Morgana's hand; it was a short curved dagger. The sea witch grinned evilly.

"This is another gift from Maleficent," she said, stabbing her in the gut, twisting the blade as blood flowed out and mixed with the sea water.

"NO!" Riku cried, but it was too late. The wounded mermaid plummeted from the whirlpool before it swirled faster and became smaller, the shark-now-anchovy and two dark stingrays swam into it before the dark whirlpool vanished, Morgana's voice cackling through the air.

"You'll never find me!" she cackled, "But I'll find you! And your precious granddaughter! A ha, ha!"

"We shall not rest until that mad woman is vanquished!" King Triton declared, "Find her! _Find her!_" A stroke of lightning flashed from the trident into the cloud, a sign of order to all in the ocean.

"Yuki! Yuki!" Riku shouted, hurriedly swimming down after the fallen mermaid. Sweeping under the limp mermaid, he caught her, pressing a hand around the wound where the knife rested, noticing that the crystal pendant around her neck was a dark, dark purple, swirling with black smoke.

Hurriedly, he swam to Sora and Donald, who flanked him as they hurried to seek help, holding Yuki tightly against him, feeling the warmth of her skin begin to fade.

_Yuki… please… hold on…_ he thought desperately. _Please, you can't leave me. I still need you._

- - - -

"I'm sorry," King Triton apologized after Ariel, Eric and Melody had returned to land on the shores. "there is no sign of her. She's vanished. We will keep trying, we will-"

"Sweetie, no," Ariel chided as she picked up Melody as she reached the water. "Oh, we've got to keep Melody away from her. Until Morgana is found, Melody can't go in the sea." She sighed sadly, "and neither will I."

"But Ariel!" Flounder protested.

She looked at her best friend. "I'm sorry, Flounder," she apologized, looking at Melody in her arms who was chewing on the edge of her Atlantica locket "But if Morgana is anything like Ursula, she'll never give up. This is the only way." She began to remove the locket from her neck. "Melody can't know about merpeople, or Atlantica, or even _you_, Daddy," she explained quietly, handing the locket to her father.

He sighed in understanding. "Very well, Ariel, you're right," he agreed, beginning to turn away.

"Please, thank Sora and the others for saving Melody, and tell them I'm sorry," Ariel added, her words filled with sadness, pain and regret.

The king met his daughter's eyes. "I will," he promised.

Ariel turned into Eric's chest and he hugged his wife as the Merking swam away from the castle shores in despair, holding the locket against his chest. Looking at his loyal subject, he said, "Sebastian, _you_ will watch over her."

"_Me?!_" the tiny crab squeaked in fear, shrinking back in horror. "Ugh!" he pretty much passed out into the water.

Taking one last look back at his now all-grown-up daughter, King Triton began to leave back towards his kingdom, Flounder following. Ariel, Eric and Melody began to head back towards the steps of their own kingdom with heavy hearts, and King Triton stared sadly into the sunset before dropping the locket down into the water, where it sank to the bottom where it was lost.

With that, the divide between the land and the sea kingdoms began.

* * *

**Ah... just if you want to know, Yuki will be FINE. I only included that because it's part of Maleficent's plan... BUT I'm not saying what the plan is. ahahaha.**

**Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading this chapter. Hope you'll like the next when it comes out!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Returning the Light Within

**Well... here's the next chapter to Darkness Falls Once More!**

**I hope you all like it!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
****:Disney characters and everything else Disney (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Eight: Returning the Light Within

"Quickly now, lay her down here," a mermaid nurse chided, motioning towards the yellow sponge bed.

Very carefully, Riku laid Yuki down on the bed, her tail swinging lifelessly with the current. Sora and Donald swam next to them, warily watching as the nurse pressed moss on the wound, absorbing the blood.

Several mermen and mermaids swam into the room, gathered around Yuki as they brought various underwater medical equipment, and one merman dressed in a doctor/surgeon's coat followed, hurriedly putting on rubber gloves. A mermaid looked at Riku, Sora and Donald.

"Please, you must leave the room and leave us to do our work," she chided, escorting them out.

"Please, save her," Riku begged, his voice filled with worry and desperation.

The orange-haired mermaid nodded. "We will do our best."

Riku swam back and forth worriedly, his hands behind his back. He couldn't help but pace, trying to pass the time. But unfortunately, time just didn't move fast enough for him. Any moment now, Yuki could die, and he could do nothing but wait.

Not before long, King Triton swam over to them, concern shining in his wise old eyes.

"I'd like to thank all of you for helping to get my granddaughter back," he thanked gratefully. "But wait… wasn't there one more of you?"

Riku closed his eyes as his face scrunched in pain. Sora answered for him.

"She's been gravely injured by Morgana," the 15-year-old explained quietly. "We were told to wait out here while they try to help her."

_The darkness will rip her light apart,_ Riku thought depressingly, _I don't want that to happen. I can't lose her. _

"D-Don't worry," King Triton tried to assure, "she'll be very well taken care of, I promise you that."

"But even so," Riku struggled, "that dark orb Morgana pushed into Yuki's chest was something she was given to by Maleficent, practically the queen of darkness, and the master of all the Heartless. If that orb is just as powerful as Maleficent is, Yuki will die within minutes. In addition, her wound makes it even _harder_ for her to fight back against the darkness."

Sora rested a hand on his best friend's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "Aw, come on, Riku. You've been hanging out in darkness too long. We all have to think positive. Yuki will be alright, you'll see."

"Yeah!" Donald cheered in agreement, "After all, you both have faced worse while we were asleep, right?"

The 16-year-old dipped his head, still a little concerned. "Even so," he reasoned, "I still can't help but worry."

- - - -

20 minutes later, one-by-one the merpeople swam out of the room, looking somewhat exhausted. Eventually the merman surgeon swam out and sighed, "Well… she survived the operation, and the wound has been stitched up. That wound is healing remarkably well, but for some reason she's still pale and very cold."

"Thank you, Dr. Tailfin," King Triton thanked.

"Can we go see her?" Riku inquired.

The blonde doctor nodded.

Hurriedly, Riku, Sora and Donald swam into the room, where they found Yuki transferred onto another, larger sponge bed, a pillow propped under her head, her hands resting by her side. Riku swam down to sit next to her, taking one of her cold hands in his and pressing it against his chest over his heart. His allowed his fingers to run over the stitches where the knife once was. Though they didn't want to admit it, the three of them could see the dark aura flaring around her petite body. Whatever Maleficent did was hurting her badly.

"We've gotta save her," Sora said quietly but determinedly.

"But what can we do?" Donald pointed out.

"I-I'm not quite sure," he stammered in admittance.

A weak flash of light enveloped Yuki's crystal, and the young woman's eyes fluttered half-open.

"R-Riku…" she whispered, her hand gently trembling in his.

"Yuki," he breathed in relief. "You're awake."

She offered him a small smile. "I'm using my last reserves of magic to keep the light in my heart to talk to all of you," she told them softly.

"Shhh…" he shushed, placing two fingers over her lips. "Reserve your strength. You're gravely hurt."

The young Maiden of Light gently reached up to touch Riku's cheek. "Oh Riku…" she sighed quietly. "The darkness has breached my aura… but has yet to reach into my heart. I promise you I'll do all I can to not ever let that happen…" Her eyes slipped close as the temporary light disappeared, returning the crystal to its dark purple form.

Leaning down, Riku kissed her very gently, allowing the light within him to spread into her body with that small contact.

_Please…_ he thought, _Yuki, you can have my light._

After he pulled away, they noticed that the dark aura had died down a bit, and a soft pink light began to pulse in within the centre of the crystal, trying to purify it from the inside out.

"What can save her?" Sora thought quietly out loud, looking around.

"I'm not sure," Donald replied even quieter.

Yuki's head tilted to the side limply as if sleeping, but Riku lowered his head to rest his cheek against the hollow base of her throat, his hand tightly clenching hers.

"Riku…" Sora said quietly, "Donald and I will go try and see what we can do to help her. You stay here with Yuki until we get back, okay?"

"Okay," he responded, keeping his cheek pressed against her throat. "Be careful you guys. And let me know if you need any help."

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Donald announced determinedly before both he and Sora swam out of the room.

Riku swam to lay down next to her, carefully wrapping an arm around her waist and holding her against his chest, her cool cheek pressed against his warm skin. His hand stroked her hair, his fingers twining into the black strands. He felt her chest heave weakly against his, one hand by her side while the other rested on his chest.

"Oh Yuki…" he whispered with a sigh, "I'll take good care of you."

_I promise I won't let you die, no matter what happens,_ he added silently. _I'll be with you together till the very end. This I swear to you._

- - -

Sora and Donald exchanged glances.

"Sora, where do we even _start_ to look for help?" the court magician inquired.

"I don't know," he said. "But we have to do everything we can to help. You and I can both see that it isn't only Yuki who is suffering from this, but Riku as well. We've got to do everything we can to try and help them."

The half-duck half-octopus nodded in agreement. "So really, Sora, where do we start?" he inquired.

The 15-year-old looked thoughtful. "Well… we need to first get details on who this Morgana woman is before anything else. Then we need to track down what that orb Maleficent created does, and what it'll do to Yuki unless we can stop it," he explained.

"I suppose we can ask King Triton on who Morgana is," Donald said.

As Sora swam off towards the throne room, Donald followed along, finding the king sitting upon his throne with a depressed expression plastered on his face.

"Oh, you're back! How is she doing?" the king greeted.

"Well... she's still injured, more of the heart than the body," Sora answered. "We need to know a little bit about Morgana. Who _is _she?"

"Ursula's insane sister," King Triton explained, "she's been trying to get revenge for what happened to Ursula. Her aim is to acquire my trident and conquer the seven seas."

They both nodded in understanding.

"That's not going to happen on our watch!" Sora cheered in assurance.

"Do you have any idea how she could have made contact outside of Atlantica?" Donald inquired.

"It's possible that she may have somehow done that," he answered. "Is she related to what's happening to Yuki right now? Other than the fact that that rotten sea witch stabbed her."

Sora was still furious at Morgana for what she did to her best friend's girlfriend, and he was keen on getting revenge on both Morgana _and_ Maleficent.

"Yes, and no," Donald answered.

"You know where we'd be able to find Morgana?" Sora inquired.

He shook his head. "Unfortunately not," he replied unhappily, "or else if I knew I'd make sure she'd never be able to harm my granddaughter ever again."

"Yeah!" Donald agreed.

"Hmm… okay, I think that's all we need to know for now," Sora determined. "Thanks."

Not before long, they swam off out of the castle and towards the edges of the kingdom of Atlantica, eager on finding Morgana, a way to save their friend, and most importantly; answers.

When they arrived at the borders, Sora suddenly felt a little dizzy.

"H-Hey Donald?" he stammered, swimming forward unsteadily. "I'm kinda feeling…" The 15-year-old collapsed, drifting down to the bottom of the sea.

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed, swimming down to his friend. "SORA!"

- - - -

_"Where am I?" Sora asked as he found himself in a strange, shapeless black world._

_A voice answered him from out of nowhere. "I have summoned you here, like I summoned the Maiden of Light not two days ago," it said."Not to brag, but I know a lot of things."_

_"Eh… so is _this_ why Yuki collapsed back on Destiny Islands?" he asked. "Seriously, who _are_ you?"_

_"Not important," the voice argued. "Now… do you want to know how to save your friend or not?"_

_That almost instantly caught Sora's attention. "How?!" he exclaimed, his voice sounding desperate._

_The voice laughed, as if it was such an obvious answer. "A single kiss," it answered._

_"What?!" Sora cried out in surprise and shock. "B-But Riku kissed her! And nothing happened… actually… now that I think about it… the crystal _did_ brighten a bit…"_

_That voice laughed once more. "No, no, no," it said. "The kiss that she needs is one from _you_."_

_"_WHAT?!_" Sora practically screamed before catching himself. "I-It's not that she's not attractive or anything… but _WHAT?!_ Riku's gonna kill me if I do! Why me?!"_

_"As you know, Riku has been taken by the darkness before," the voice explained. "And darkness can leave an imprint in one's heart, even _yours_ Sora. However, because Riku had submersed himself in complete darkness in order to help you, the light that still shines within his heart is still not enough to truly strengthen the light within Yuki's heart, as she is the Maiden of Light."_

_"S-So I have to kiss her?" Sora stammered._

_"If I'm correct, this is going to be your first kiss," the voice responded._

_The half-boy half-dolphin blushed. _

_"It's not my fault you weren't brave enough to kiss Kairi sooner," it defended immediately, causing the blush on his face to further darken. "Unfortunately, this is the only way. Luckily, this will not be counted as your first kiss. Though this _will_ be mouth-to-mouth contact, or at least _look_ like it, a barrier of light will –let's say, 'preserve' your lips for Kairi."_

_"Don't say it like _that_!" he protested, feeling even more embarrassed._

_"Nothing to be ashamed about, Sora," it said. "Now… farewell, Keyblade Master. Until the next time we meet."_

- - - -

Sora's eyes snapped open as he sat up, startling Donald.

"Sora! What happened?! Are you alright?!" he asked immediately.

"I-I'm fine," the Keyblade Master responded. "Hurry, let's get back to see Yuki. I know now how to help her."

- - -

"Mmm… Riku?" Yuki moaned gently.

Very gently, he stroked her hair. "Shhh…" he whispered, though completely thankful in his heart that she was awake, "you're still weak. You've lost a lot of blood, and a lot of light."

"Riku… have you ever wondered if you had a Nobody, what would he be like?" she asked him in a hushed yet worried tone.

"Not really, no," he answered, a little surprised by her question. He raised his head to look at her. "Why do you ask?"

"Mmm… No reason really…." she mumbled. "Do you ever think there could be a romance between a Nobody and a person?"

He stared hard at her. "Yuki, what are you talking about?" he inquired in shock, "Are you ill? Why are you talking like this?"

She sighed, closing her eyes. "Just answer the question, Riku…" she told quietly.

Resting his head back, he breathed deeply before answering, "Well… remember that Nobodies don't have hearts, so they can't feel emotion. I suppose that could be argued, considering the cases of Roxas, Naminé, Xven and perhaps Axel. But all I can really say is if a person should fall in love with a Nobody, it would probably be a love that will end in nothing but misery. Nobodies are doomed to fade back into darkness." _But that's only considering the Nobody can't actually _feel_ love or any other emotion,_ he added silently.

"But Riku…" she muttered, "Organization XIII are also Nobodies… but… they can feel hate… anger… worry… it just _doesn't_ make sense. This is beyond any explanation that can be given, except that more intelligent Nobodies have hearts."

He looked at her, squeezing her hand tightly as he continued to stroke her hair. "Yuki, you shouldn't concern yourself in this, nor worry about it either. Why do you need to know about this anyway? How is this related to our mission, and _your_ life?"

But now a new worry struck his mind. _Wait… Yuki… are you falling in love with a Nobody? Are you in love with Xven, Yuki?_ He thought, his heart secretly shattering. _Are you going to leave me?_

"Mmm… cause I'm worried," she told him. "That's why. Sorry… can't help it… must worry… Oh, and don't worry, I'm not planning on leaving you anytime soon."

He kissed her on the top of the head. "I know, I'll make sure Maleficent pays for what she did to you," he promised.

She chuckled gently, daring to pull herself up to kiss him, her face hovering above his as her elbows rested on his bare chest.

"I meant _leave_, leave you, idiot," she teased, laying back down on his as she buried her face against the side of his neck. "I still love you very much, so don't worry about me leaving you for someone else, 'kay?"

Hugging her against him he held her tightly in happiness and relief. In his mind he realized he was just so stupid to think something like her leaving him. He knew she could see how much he loved her, and he could see just how much she loved him. He felt a pang of guilt for doubting her love for a moment.

Her heart seemed to begin to beat weaker against his by the hour, and he could tell that time was going to eventually run out for the young woman unless he could do something to help.

"Yuki?" he whispered quietly.

"Yeah?" she breathed against his neck.

"I love you," he murmured affectionately.

"I know, and I love you too…" she muttered back lovingly. "No matter what happens, my heart will always belong to you."

He held her tighter, his arms trembling with the fear of losing her. "As mine yours," he whispered, feeling the bright light aura he loved beginning to dim and fade.

Her breathing slowed gradually and her body began to grow limper in his embrace.

"Come on, Yuki, just hang on," he begged quietly, gently rolling her off and turning her back onto her back, swimming over to grab a blanket from the top shelf before draping it over her sleeping body.

Flounder swam into the room, swimming over to them.

"Hey Riku, King Triton wants to talk to you," he informed.

"Thanks," Riku responded softly.

Flounder looked worried and sadly at Yuki. "Will she be okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," the merman answered honestly, "she's not doing very well right now. Now… you said the king wants to talk to me? Let's go."

Giving his girlfriend a soft kiss, he squeezed her hand reassuringly before swimming out of the room with Flounder to talk to King Triton.

- - - -

As Sora and Donald swam into the infirmary room, they found the Yuki sleeping peacefully on the sponge bed, Riku nowhere to be found.

"Hmmm… hey Donald, go check whether Riku is in the throne room or something," Sora suggested, hoping to be alone with Yuki when he has to do the embarrassing deed of kissing her. _I'm just glad that Riku isn't here to see me do that,_ he thought. _He'd probably kill me if he caught me kissing his girlfriend._

"Good idea," Donald said, swimming out of the room and leaving Sora alone with the Maiden of Light.

Sora swam over to Yuki's side, gently touching her cold hand with his and shrinking back at the touch. He gazed worriedly into her face, taking a deep breath as he knew he had to do the deed quickly before anyone returned into the room.

_Please… Yuki…_ he thought, pressing his lips together in hesitation before lightly pressing his mouth on hers, closing his eyes and hoping the light would get through to her. _Wake up…_

Without warning, Yuki's body was outlined by light, the darkness in the crystal around her neck being forced out of the pure clear gem. As Sora pulled away, the light around Yuki brightened, engulfing her very form in a blanket of light. Swimming back in alarm, Sora was amazed and horrified at the display of light.

_Was _this_ what that voice meant?_ He thought in wonder.

With a gasp, the light disappeared, and Yuki's eyes were wide open, her breathing slowing back down to a normal pace. Yawning tiredly, she rubbed at her eyes before blinking at Sora.

"Hey Sora, what happened?" she asked quietly. "Where are Riku and Donald?"

"Um… not sure… Donald just went to go look for Riku," he replied, his cheeks growing red in his embarrassment of what he did.

She peered closer at his face. "Sora… are you blushing?" she said in surprise. "Wait a second… did you just _kiss_ me?"

"Ack!" he broke off, admitting that it was true. "I-I-I'm sorry!"

Yuki bit her lip. "Hmm… I'm thinking that I _should_ be angry with you," she began, "however, you _did_ save my life. So thank you."_ I bet that voice knocked him out and told him how to save me,_ she thought knowingly.

"U-Uh… you're welcome," he stammered, still a little shocked.

She winked. "Don't worry, I won't tell Riku or Kairi, or anyone else for that matter, unless it was _absolutely _necessary, which I doubt it shall be."

"'k-kay…" he choked before Riku, Donald, King Triton and Flounder swam into the room in a hurry.

"Yuki!" Riku exclaimed in joy, rushing over to embrace his girlfriend tightly in his arms, holding her taut against his chest as he buried his face in her dark mane.

"Riku," she murmured against his neck, happy to have her boyfriend holding her in his arms once more.

He looked at her. "Are you okay? I heard that Sora found a way to save you. What was it?" he asked quickly.

Both Sora and Yuki exchanged a glance before she replied, "Only the Keyblade Master himself can help sustain the light within my heart."

Sora silently sighed in relief, but felt guilty for lying to his best friend. However, Yuki wasn't _completely_ lying, what she said was still true; only Sora could be able to bring the light back within her.

Both King Triton and Flounder sighed with relief.

"We're just glad you're okay, Yuki," Flounder said.

"Yuki," Riku murmured affectionately, kissing the love of his life deeply. "I love you so, so much." He hugged her tightly against his chest.

She smiled, hugging him back tightly. "I love you too, Riku." Closing her eyes and allowing a silver aura to ripple around her momentarily before vanishing.

"What was that?" King Triton inquired curiously.

As they both separated, Yuki said, "I'm afraid we've played our part in this world for now. We must go."

"Awww, so soon?" Flounder inquired.

"I'm afraid so," she answered, half-bowing to the king. "Thank you for everything."

"Don't worry, we'll come back," Sora assured.

Not before long, she, Riku, Sora and Donald teleported back onto the Gummi Ship.

"Where to next?" Donald inquired.

"Well… let's take a look at the map," Yuki suggested, leaning slightly on Riku as he kept an arm around her shoulders.

As the map popped up, on screen, immediately, Sora exclaimed, "Let's go to Agrabah and see how Aladdin and Jasmine are doing!"

"Very well, to Agrabah we go!" Chip and Dale cheered.

* * *

**Well... that was most definately an eventful chapter. I hope you all like it!**

**Now... questions to ponder for ongoing chapters:**

**1. Who's that voice that has now called to both Yuki AND Sora? What part does it have to play?  
2. What exciting (and most likely complex) things are going to happen in Agrabah and the other worlds?  
3. Which Organization XIII member are we going to have Sora and Co. run into next?  
and last but not least...  
4. WHEN WILL SORA ACTUALLY TELL KAIRI HE LIKES HER?!?!?!?!? (lol)**

**Now... PLEASE REVIEW!**


	10. Aggravation in Agrabah! Truth Revealed!

**Well... here's the next chapter! I hope you like it!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
****:Disney characters & setting (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Nine: Aggravation in Agrabah! The Truth is Revealed

"Mmm…" Yuki moaned, leaning tiredly against the ship wall the next morning on their long journey.

"Yuki," Riku murmured quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She looked at him. "I'm thinking that maybe… I should stay here on the ship for this next world…" she sighed. "But something else is telling me I need to go. I believe that an Organization XIII member will be there. I have to go." As she took a step forward, her face scrunched in pain as her hands went to the sewn-up wound caused by Morgana.

"Yuki, you still need time to recover," Riku said worriedly, his arms wrapping around her body as he pulled her against him.

She pulled back, shaking her head. "I have to go, Riku. We'll go together. All of us will," she murmured quietly, only meant for his ears.

"I promise I'll protect you," he swore, hugging her back taut against him. "I love you. I love you so much."

She smiled. "I love you too," she whispered back.

"Are you guys ready to go yet? We're almost there," Sora announced.

Riku looked deeply into her eyes. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she answered surely, grabbing a potion from the storage and drinking it down, sighing in slight relief as it eased some of the pain. "Let's do it."

- - - -

When they arrived, they found the entire desert-surrounded kingdom filled with Heartless and Nobodies.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Yuki sighed, her necklace glowing darkly.

"Well… let's take care of them," Sora declared, his, Riku and Yuki's Keyblades appearing in their hands.

Not before long, they began to fight the various huge Heartless and strange-looking Nobodies. Without warning, Organization XIII No. 6 Zexion walked through a portal and towards Yuki, as they had all split up to finish off the Heartless and Nobodies.

"Ah, it's you," she groaned. "What do you _want_?"

"Miss Yuki," he said in a calm tone, half-bowing to her, "please return to us at the Organization."

She smirked. "Really… _what_ are you talking about?" she demanded, allowing her Keyblade to vanish, knowing that it would return if she needed it. "Return? I never _joined_ in the first place."

A blue-leather book appeared in his hand, and he flipped through it, completely relaxed before flipping to a certain page, folding the page and tossing the book over to her, and she caught it in her hands, looking back at the calm demeanour of the Organization member.

"What is this?" she inquired curiously and warily.

"A book, what else?" he replied sternly.

She rolled her eyes, carefully opening the book to the folded page, where there was a picture of her and all sorts of information about her, including how she became a Nobody and her completed missions. Before she allowed herself to read it, she chucked the book back at him.

"LIES!" she shouted defiantly, "All of it! They're all lies!"

Zexion shook his head. "It's anything but," he argued. "I know you've seen your past, and what really happened to your heart. You remember that Xigbar, Saix, Luxord and I have always treated you like you were a younger sister to us and watched over you."

"Shut up!" she cried, a powerful pure white aura erupting from around her. Confusion, distress and anger emitted from her, but Zexion seemed unfazed, stepping closer towards her.

"Yuki…" Zexion murmured.

"S-Stay away from me!" Yuki screamed, tears streaming from her eyes in denial.

Emotionlessly, Zexion walked over, unfazed and unhurt by the aura before proceeding to wound his arms around Yuki and pressed her against him.

"Come back to us," he told her.

At this point in time, Sora, Donald and Riku had saw the explosion of light and hurried to the site, finding Zexion holding and comforting a sobbing Yuki.

"Yuki!" Riku called, but she didn't reply, as if she'd never heard.

Zexion glanced over at them, before looking back at Yuki. "Come, Yuki. To the Cavern we go, where I will explain to you_ everything_," he told her softly. "Lexaeus will come later and… speak, with the others. Come."

"I don't know," Yuki choked quietly, her aura of light shimmering away until it no longer resided.

Very gently, Zexion caressed her face in both his hands before pressing his lips gently against her forehead. This gesture alone infuriated Riku, and shocked the others.

"Yuki! Yuki!" Riku cried, and she turned to him, golden eyes filled with tears.

Looking back at Zexion, she pulled away from his embrace before running into Riku's tender embrace, and he held her close, as Sora and Donald charged at Zexion.

"Yuki, shhh, it's alright now," Riku told her, pulling her head tightly into his chest.

She shook her head, shouting at Sora and Donald, "Sora, Donald, stop!"

"Yuki, why?" Sora inquired her.

"Is everything alright?" Riku inquired. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, everything's not alright," she told him. "Riku, I need to go with him."

"What? Why?" he demanded.

Tears continued to fall down her cheeks as she gripped his white and yellow vest tightly in her hands, pressing herself closer to him.

"I-I'm sorry Riku…" she cried quietly as she stepped backwards from him and towards Zexion. "But I'm not who you think I am…"

His pale blue eyes looked at her in shock, and in betrayal. "W-What do you mean, Yuki?"

Zexion pulled her back into his embrace, holding her against his black cloak before looking back up at Riku. "You may as well forget about her, Riku. She's a Nobody."

"Shut up!" he hissed. "Don't you _dare_ speak of her in that way!"

"He's right, Riku," Yuki declared, her voice strained and pained, "I _am_ a Nobody. I don't have a heart. I'm no better than those of Organization XIII."

Zexion looked at her, his eyes suspicious. "Hmph," he grunted.

"Ah," she realized quickly and quietly while sniffling, "no offense."

Riku took a step forward towards them. "But Yuki," he protested loudly, "you _do_ have a heart, not like those in Organization XIII!"

Closing her eyes, she looked at him with unflinching, pained eyes. "That's only because my Heartless still exists out there, somewhere," she argued, her voice powerfully strained, "so my heart was turned to me." She turned away from him and lowered her head. "I'm not the girl that was ever supposed to exist. I was never the one that you were supposed to fall in love with."

"But you _are_ the girl I fell in love with!" Riku cried, "Nobody or not, I will still love you for who you are!"

She looked at him. "But I'm not who I am!" she shouted at him. "I'm only a shadow of who I'm really supposed to be! I've taken her name, and her heart. You said it yourself; a love between a person and a Nobody will probably end in nothing but misery! And you were right…"

He was taken aback. He had never imagined that Yuki was a Nobody, and that his words would be sent back right at him. "Yuki, I-I never meant-"

"No, Riku," she cut off, her voice breaking as a dark aura flared around her. "there's nothing you can say to fix this. I guess you were right, Riku…" She began to walk with Zexion to the dark portal, not looking back. "Nobodies _are_ doomed to fade back into darkness. Therefore… so shall I."

As both Nobodies disappeared through the portal, Riku screamed her name once before the portal vanished and it was already too late. Furious with himself, he dropped to his hands and knees and began to mentally beat himself up. This was all his fault.

"Riku…" Sora said quietly, both he and Donald gazing sadly at their friend as they quietly approached him.

"If only I hadn't been so _blind_," Riku murmured chokingly. "If only I hadn't of been such a fool I would have realized her fear when she asked me those questions back in Atlantica."

Donald looked at him. "What questions?"

"Whether there could be a romance between a Nobody and a person," he replied, still not looking up at his companions. "And other things. Her voice seemed so scared, but I never took notice of it. And now… now it's too late. She's gone."

Sora kneeled down next to him. "We'll get her back," he promised.

"Yeah!" Donald agreed. "After all, that Organization member said that they were heading to the 'Cavern'. He's probably referring to the Cavern of Wonders!"

Riku shook his head pessimistically. "She won't come back to us," he said quietly. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not, Riku, it's just not," Sora argued, mentally groping for the words that would help his best friend. "We just need the time to talk to her, then she'll understand."

"Yeah, maybe her mind has been twisted by that guy," Donald suggested.

Riku looked at them, sitting back on his knees. "No, it hasn't. I could tell that her pain was all her own. This is all my fault," he sighed depressingly. "I shouldn't have been so ignorant."

Without warning, footsteps were heard as they all looked up and saw a purple-vested, dark-haired man run over to them.

"Sora! Donald!" he shouted.

"Aladdin!" both of them exclaimed, waving at him.

As he ran over to them, Riku stood up depressingly, dusting off the sand on his jeans and sighing.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here? Did you find your friend Riku and the King?" Aladdin inquired.

Riku forced a smile. "Hey, I'm Riku. The 'friend' in question that Sora searched for," he greeted, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you!" the ex-thief replied. "I'm Aladdin. So… what brings you to Agrabah? I suspect it has to do with these Heartless again, right?"

Sora sighed, "Yeah, that, Heartless, and now our other friend has gone missing."

"More like AWOL, Sora," Donald corrected. "She's probably gone to the Cavern of Wonders."

"Then let's go," Aladdin announced, "I'll be your guide. I've been there dozens of times."

Sora nodded. "I've been there too," he added. "I assume there are still Heartless there as well?"

"Yeah, probably," he responded.

Riku's eyes looked grave. "Then let's get going," he stated, his voice just carefully neutral. "I really need to talk to Yuki and apologize to her. This was all my fault. I shouldn't have been so stupid."

"Awww… come on, Riku, it'll be alright," Sora tried to reassure. "She'll understand."

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "It's not your fault."

He forced a smile, nodding slowly. "We need to hurry as quick as we can," he told them, his expression turning grave once more. "I have no idea what Zexion might be saying to her, but I'm sure its probably not good… Plus… utilizing the Dark Corridor without wearing a black cloak… I'm not sure how it will affect the light within her heart."

- - - -

"Yuki, you need to understand this," Zexion told the Nobody with a heart as they stood in the middle of the gold-and-treasure-filled Treasure Room in the Cave of Wonders. "You're not one of them… you never were."

She looked down sadly. "But… I always felt like I was one of them…" she reasoned.

"Only because you _have_ the heart of your person," he told her. "Your Heartless is still out there, and you have taken the name of her. Your _true_ name has always been Kixyu, but… you will always remain our little Yuki to us at the Organization."

Yuki looked at him, pain in her eyes. "Then… why did the others attack me back at Destiny Islands?" she demanded. "Why did Saix and Luxord try to kill me?"

"They probably had no choice. Knowing Lord Xemnas, he most likely wanted you to go back peacefully. We both know how loyal Saix is to Lord Xemnas, and so he had no choice," Zexion explained, his Lexicon book appearing in his hand. "I wasn't there, remember? I had been erased by the Riku Replica back in Castle Oblivion, where he had drained me of my life force."

She shivered, remembering the Riku Replica she and Riku had encountered. The replica had nearly killed her with the powers of darkness before the original Riku stepped in and defeated it to protect her.

"So then… what am I supposed to do now? I'm the Maiden of Light…" she inquired, her gaze dimming as she looked away, "or has that title been stripped from me too now?"

"You're still the Maiden of Light, no matter what," Zexion assured.

Very gently, he reached to stroke her cheek, and she couldn't help but tense at the unfamiliar yet all-too-familiar touch.

"Are you ready to return to the Organization with me?" he inquired calmly.

Her golden eyes widened in shock. "W-What?" she gasped. "Why do I have to go back? I'm not going to be welcomed… After all… I've already captured _one_ of the Organization…"

"Of course you are," he reassured her. "Larxene acted on her own, and so did Xven. Larxene wanted to kill you, and Xven wanted to learn more about who he was. We were ordered not to interfere and allow Larxene to go to her doom, and Xven returned to us not long after her capture. The others don't wish to hurt you, not unless you really _have_ turned against us."

Yuki bit her lip, unsure of how to answer. "But… you know I don't agree with how Organization XIII is run, _and_ their goal."

"But do we really have any choice?" he inquired. "Or else what will we live for? We don't have hearts, we can't feel emotions, but… we _do_ feel hatred, jealousy, longing… how can this all be when we don't have hearts?"

Her eyes hardened. "I think you _do_ have hearts though, or at least something close to it," she told him.

Zexion smirked. "Is that so?" he inquired. "Is that what you think?"

She nodded, and he grabbed her hand, pressing it against his chest over where his heart would be, sandwiching her hand in between.

"If I _had_ a heart, don't you think you or I would be able to feel it?" he asked.

Yuki sighed. "This isn't about _having_ a heart, is it?" she guessed quietly. "It's about becoming a _real_ person, and not just a shadow of someone."

"You're brilliant," Zexion told her, confirming her guesses. "How did you figure it out?"

She looked up at him with sadness. "Because _I_ feel the same way; jealous of the _real_ Yuki who's heart I've taken, at the same time… very sad that I did," she admitted.

He leaned down to whisper into her ear. "You know…" he began quietly, "I've done some research on your _true_ heart's owner, and she's very much like you. There _is_ a way for you to absorb your true person back into you, so you remain yourself, while at the same time, you _become_ and_ are _your true heart's owner."

Yuki's eyes widened. "R-Really?!" she gasped, taking a few steps back.

He nodded, his bright blue eyes honest.

"B-But… why are you telling me this?" she asked quietly. "You're my enemy… aren't you?"

Zexion walked over and hugged her. "You're part of Organization XIII once more. You're no enemy to us," he told her. "We've missed you."

Memories of the times she had taken on missions with Zexion and the others flooded her head; both the good times and the bad. She had been so happy to take on missions with who she thought were her friends; especially the good times with Zexion, Axel, Roxas, and Xion.

"I-I miss you guys too…" she couldn't help but whisper. "B-But… now that I think about it… I was so scared before… back in Castle Oblivion… M-Marluxia… h-he-"

"I know," he told her before she continued. "He and Larxene tricked you and tortured you in order for you to help them betray the Organization, and to capture Sora and his friends. Don't worry, this time we'll watch over you to make sure you will be alright."

Yuki pulled back and looked at him strangely. "By the way… why was it that nothing happened to me when I walked through the dark corridor? I wasn't wearing a black cloak to shield me…"

"Who knows?" he sighed in replied. "I'm pretty sure _I_ didn't do anything. You sure you're alright?"

"I don't recall anything happening," she murmured. "Now… I'm not quite sure what to do. I don't want to abandon Riku; I love him."

Zexion looked at her. "You could return back to him, if you want," he told her. "It's just a matter of him accepting you. But… everything will be different now…"

"I can't agree with you more," she agreed, her voice sounding miserable before she collapsed sideways, Zexion catching her as she fell.

Yuki's eyes were closed, and the crystal heart pendant glowed darkly.

"Hmm… it seemed travelling through the Dark Corridor had more effect on you than I had thought," he muttered quietly, carefully picking her up and laying her down against a sand dune.

Suddenly, another Dark Corridor appeared, and another cloaked figure walked through, a folded white blanket in hand. Zexion looked at them.

"Lexaeus," he greeted in a monotone, bidding a nod in his direction.

"Zexion, how is she?" the other Org. member inquired as he lowered his hood, handing the blanket to him. "Is Yuki going to be coming back with us?"

He sighed. "It seems that because she went through the Dark Corridor without any protection from the dark, it has affected the light within her greatly. I'm not exactly sure how long it will take until she awakens. I'm doubt she will be wanting to return with us. Her feelings for Riku still hold true."

"But couldn't you just make an illusion to make her see Riku rejecting her love and hating her?" Lexaeus inquired, forcing the words to come out.

Zexion's eyes hardened. "We both know that I would never hurt her like that," he scolded as he draped the blanket over Yuki. "If she wishes to return to her friends, I will allow her to."

"B-But… Zexion-" Lexaeus broke off, his voice sounding filled with sadness.

"No, Lexaeus," he interrupted, standing up. "If she doesn't wish to return, I won't force her to. I know Lord Xemnas and perhaps a few of the others would argue against, but she's important to me…" He gazed at the sleeping young woman. "She makes me feel like I have a heart…"

"She's one of those few that have that uncanny power to do that," he agreed. "It'll be sad that she's not returning with us; sad that she lost most of her memory of what happened while she was in the Organization with us."

Zexion nodded in agreement. "I fear that Lord Xemnas and Marluxia may have plans to twist her back onto our side. I can already see that she's affecting Xven's ability to follow _all_ his orders. At this rate they'll probably have plans to twist _him_ as well," he elaborated. "Then everything will fall into place according to Lord Xemnas' plan."

Lexaeus bit his lip. "But there's no doubt that Sora, Riku, and their friends will try to stop them. Hopefully they'll be able to protect her from him. Or else she might not make it…"

* * *

**I hope you liked it! So much drama now, who knew that Yuki was actually a Nobody?! AND that she was one of Organization XIII?! EPICCC!!!!!! **

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	11. An Unexpected Visitor

**Yay! Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

**Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

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Chapter Ten: An Unexpected Visitor

"Wow… this place seems even _dustier_ than before," Sora commented as they proceeded down the stairs into the Cave of Wonders.

"Well what do you think?" Aladdin retorted with a meek smile, "It's not like someone comes down here to clean it, right?"

"That's true," Donald agreed, glancing at Riku's still-worried expression. "Hey Riku, don't worry, Yuki will be fine."

Sora placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Yeah, Donald's right," he agreed. "After all, she still loves you, right? And you still love her?"

The 16-year-old nodded. "But what I'm worried about is her heart," he told him. "She must be in so much confusion and pain."

"But the light of your love should heal her, right?" Sora inquired.

He shrugged. "That was pretty sappy, you sap," he joked, chuckling.

"At least it's good to know that your sense of humour hasn't vanished," Donald said in a positive tone. "Yuki should be fine."

"That's what _you_ think," a deep voice announced, and they all turned in alert to see Organization XIII member Lexaeus.

"It's _you_," Riku hissed, the 'Way to Dawn' Keyblade appearing in his hand. "Give her back!"

His tomahawk appeared in hand as he argued, "No! She'll leave if she wants to! You can't force her to go back with you!"

"You can't force her to stay with you either!" Sora shouted, his own Keyblade appearing in hand.

"Nobody's forcing her to stay with us!" Lexaeus shouted back, losing his cool, keeping his grip tightly on his tomahawk. "It's not fair that you should try and force her into following you!"

"We're not forcing Yuki to stay with us!" Riku hissed angrily. "It's _you_ that took her with you in the first place!"

The fiery redhead shook his head. "I made her a promise a long time ago!" he shouted.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream echoed through the cavern, and almost instantly both Lexaeus and Riku recognized it.

"Yuki!" Riku cried out. "What are you _doing_ to her?!"

Before the Nobody could answer his confusion, another Dark Corridor appeared, and Zexion stepped out, slightly panting.

"Lexaeus," he breathed, before noticing Riku, Sora, Donald and Aladdin. "Hurry, come help me before it's too late. It's Marluxia! He's out of control! He's going to kill Yuki unless we do something, come on!"

Almost instantaneously, Lexaeus followed Zexion through the Dark Corridor and Sora and the gang tried to follow, but it closed before they made it in.

"Dammit, we have to go help her," Riku swore, twisting towards the next door before a bag of crystals fell from his pocket.

"What's this?" Aladdin inquired, picking it up and inspecting it.

"I'm not sure," Sora retorted, taking it from the ex-thief and looking at the clear bag. "Riku, do you know what it is?"

He shook his head. "Yuki must have slipped it into my pocket before she left. I'm not sure what it does," he said, then he growled in frustration, taking the crystal bag and putting it back into his pocket. "Ugh, but that doesn't matter now! We have to save Yuki! You heard what Zexion said; Unless we go to save her, Organization XIII member Marluxia is going to _kill_ her!"

Another bloodcurdling scream filled the air, and they began to run quickly towards the source.

- - -

"Dammit, Marluxia, let her go!" Zexion ordered as Marluxia held his scythe close to Yuki's throat, a trickle of blood fell from her neck. Cuts, burns and bruises covered her body. "What do you want with her anyway?! This wasn't part of Lord Xemnas' plan!"

Marluxia grinned. "All for the sake of revenge," he told him. "I told myself that if I had the chance, I would kill beautiful Yuki… or should I say young Kixyu."

"She did nothing to you," Lexaeus argued. "Just let her go!"

"Zexion…" Yuki whimpered, "Lexaeus…" She knew if she summoned her Keyblade, Marluxia would kill her mercilessly without a second thought.

Marluxia tightened his grip around her, firmly keeping a grip on his scythe. "I'm not sure how you've managed to make about half of the Organization feel like they have a heart, but _I'm_ planning on making sure that the Organization won't be engaged with fools like you any longer."

With that said, he planted a hand firmly on her back, where a dark purple hue began to glow and she screamed, her knees breaking underneath her as he slowly began to kill her, but he held her up.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Lexaeus shouted, "Don't hurt her!"

Taking his hand off her back, her head began to tip against the sharp scythe before she caught herself, her neck just touching the sharp edge.

Zexion and Lexaeus both had their weapons ready, but they both hesitated to use them, knowing that Marluxia wouldn't hesitate to kill Yuki.

"Please… just let her go," Zexion nearly begged.

Soon enough, Riku, Sora, Donald and Aladdin ran into the room.

"Hmph," Marluxia grunted, "It's _you_ again."

"Let Yuki go," Riku hissed threateningly, the Keyblade appearing in his and Sora's hands.

He held the scythe blade closer to her throat in warning.

"Watch it," he warned. "One false move and I slit her throat."

Yuki's terrified eyes met Riku's worry-filled ones, and he knew she was scared. He had rescued her once before when Marluxia had tortured her in Castle Oblivion. She had been a terrified young girl, and she had been gravely injured by him before Riku found, saved, and healed her.

"What do you want, Marluxia?" Riku demanded. "What can you gain from holding her captive?"

Almost instantly, Marluxia began to slowly draw his scythe blade across the base of her throat, slicing open her skin causing her to bleed. Then he pressed his hand against her back once more, this time absorbing her energy, and her eyes began to flutter.

"No!" Donald shouted, and Marluxia soon stopped, taking a moment to adjust to his newfound energy, but that was a wrong move on his part.

Lexaeus tacked Marluxia, and Yuki flew from his arms, crashing and rolling on the ground before stopping against a sand dune. Instantly as Sora, Donald and Aladdin attacked him, Zexion assisting, Riku ran to protect Yuki, kneeling next to her fallen form as he watched the others fight Marluxia while protecting her.

"Give me the girl!" Marluxia hissed, lunging for Yuki as he slipped out of Riku's reach and tackled Yuki from the sand dune, landing on top of her. Poising his scythe, he plunged the end of it into her chest, and she cried out in pain, her power flowing into him.

"Yuki!" Riku shouted, both he and Sora knocking him away with their Keyblades.

"You'll pay for this!" Donald shouted angrily.

Both Zexion and Riku kneeled next to Yuki's side, blood beginning to spill from the wound.

"Yuki, just hold on, 'kay?" Zexion told her quietly, placing a hand over the wound and she gasped in pain before he began to slowly heal her, his hand glowing blue.

In all honestly, Riku was a little surprise at the affection Zexion seemed to hold for her, and watched as the wound began to close while keeping one hand tightly in his. Through his touch, a different kind of healing power flowed into Yuki, healing the rest of her wounds.

"Yuki, come on," Riku coaxed. "Please… you've just gotta be alright."

After Zexion withdrew his hand, he gently took her into his arms, her head resting against his upper arm.

"Yuki, wake up," he ordered quietly, and almost immediately her eyes fluttered open, fluttering azure for a moment before returning to its normal golden.

"Zexion?" she murmured, her gaze turning to Riku, "Riku?"

"Yuki," Riku sighed in relief, gathering her into his arms and holding her tight. "I was so worried. Are you alright?"

She nodded, pulling away and slowly standing, Zexion helping her up. The Keyblade appeared in her hand, tightly in her grip.

"Yuki…" Riku murmured.

Ignoring him, she poised her Keyblade before swiftly charging at Marluxia, before there was a flash of bright light and the next thing they knew, Xigbar stood in Yuki's path, his hand on her arm.

"Hey, girl, it's been awhile, ain't that right, Kixyu?" He greeted. "Just kidding Yuki."

She lowered her Keyblade. "Xigbar…" she murmured with a soft smile. "It's nice to see you again too."

"Ha ha," he replied in a chuckle, giving her a one-armed hug, while the other held one of his Arrowguns. "Right back at ya."

"Xigbar… what are you doing here?" Lexaeus inquired.

Ignoring him, Xigbar glared at Marluxia, still embracing Yuki with his other arm. "The boss would like a _word_ with you, Marluxia. Return To Castle, _now_. This is currently Zexion and Lexaeus' mission, _not_ yours."

Marluxia poised his scythe threateningly at him. "You really want to challenge me?" he taunted.

In return, Xigbar pointed his Arrowgun at him, releasing Yuki, and the girl ran into Riku's arms, and he held her tight.

"Yuki," he breathed, pressing his lips against her hair.

"No, I'm _asking_ you to RTC," Xigbar sighed, his tone now speaking as if he's repeated this over and over again. "And if you attack me first, I will have no choice but to attack you in return to defend myself _and_ the subject _and_ fellow Organization members that _haven't_ betrayed our main cause."

Marluxia smirked. "You're _helping_ a traitor," he argued with amusement.

"Xigbar…" Yuki said quietly.

He smiled at them with his one good eye before looking back at Marluxia. "What you say is a lie," he challenged hotly, "Yuki is still one of us. She only left because of what _you_ and Larxene did to her, and you both nearly _killed_ her. Because of you, Yuki lost her memories of being one of us. It was only a miracle that Riku saved her in time. She's still one of us, no matter what."

Yuki's fingers clutched on tighter to Riku's white and yellow vest, and his arms tightened around her. He never wanted to let her go again, keeping her taut against his chest. He loved her so much, he didn't want any more harm to come to her.

"Say what you will," Marluxia said, lowering his scythe. "Very well, I will RTC, but don't forget Yuki, I _will_ be watching you closely."

"Just _try_, Marluxia," Riku spat acidly, keeping her closer against him than ever.

Marluxia disappeared, and Xigbar, Zexion and Lexaeus relaxed their tense positions, allowing their weapons to vanish before turning back to Sora and the others.

"Yuki, are you alright?" Xigbar asked softly.

She nodded. "I-I'm fine, thanks you all of you guys," she replied.

He dipped his head. "Then I'll be taking my leave. See you around, girl. Take good care of yourself," he bid before disappearing.

Very gently, Yuki pulled out of Riku's arms, staring deeply into his worried pale azure eyes.

"Yuki…" he whispered, unsure of how to begin to apologize for hurting her. "I-I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

Softly, she smiled at him, and he kissed her, his arm wrapping around her waist tightly as his other hand was firmly on the back of her head, keeping her face pressed against his.

"I love you, Yuki," he whispered, pressing his forehead against hers as he kept his eyes closed, fearing that if he looked into her eyes, he would only find rejection.

"I love you too, Riku," she murmured back, "so, _so_ much." As she was pulled back tightly against his chest, she looked at Zexion and Lexaeus. "I'm sorry, Zexion, Lexaeus," she apologized. "But my place is here."

Both Organization members gave her a soft smile.

"Don't worry about it, Yuki. We're just glad that you're safe from Marluxia for the time being," Zexion assured.

"But we _will_ miss you," Lexaeus added with a pout.

She smiled at them apologetically. "I'm sorry that things can't go back to the way they _used_ to," she told them. "We were all really close, weren't we..."

They both nodded.

"You'll always have a special place in our hearts… if we had any, that is," Zexion replied. "Until next time, Yuki, we bid you farewell."

The Maiden of Light nodded. "Bye guys," she said softly as they vanished through the Dark Corridor.

"So you're staying with us?" Sora inquired.

Yuki looked at him and nodded with a smile. "Yes, I'm staying," she replied, looking back up into Riku's eyes. Then she looked at Aladdin. "By the way, who are you?"

"The name's Aladdin," he greeted. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Yuki, friends with Sora, Donald, and Riku," she replied.

Riku looked at her. "Though I think it's safe to say that you and I are more than _just_ friends," he corrected, which earned him a smile in return.

"Yeah," she agreed in a whisper, pressing her cheek tightly against his chest as she closed her eyes. "Yeah…"

"I promise I'll never let you get hurt again," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so, so sorry if I hurt you."

She pulled away and looked up at him. "I know you are," she replied. "You didn't know that I was a Nobody, so I don't blame you. Then again… neither did I… So… I guess that means our love is doomed, right?" Her eyes dimmed. "Like you said, eventually I'll fade back to darkness… right?"

Riku shook his head abruptly. "No," he argued hotly, burying his face into her hair. "I won't allow you to go into the darkness. We'll find a way to make our love work. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Riku," Yuki replied quietly before he tightly pressed his lips on hers, capturing her into a deep, loving kiss.

"I will never stop loving you," Riku told her as he buried his face into the side of her neck and shoulder. "No matter what you do to me, no matter what you say, please don't ever leave my side."

Smiling softly at him, she pulled away and Sora and Donald hugged her.

"We're glad you're okay, Yuki," Sora said, hugging her tightly.

"Thanks," she replied. "I'm glad you guys are okay too, especially that none of the Organization members hurt you."

Suddenly, Yuki tensed, and looked at them as Sora and Donald pulled away. "We need to head back to Radiant Gardens. _Now_!" she said. "Something has gone terribly wrong." She turned to look at Aladdin. "I apologize, Aladdin, but we _must_ be on our way. We need to leave to help out our other friends."

The ex-thief nodded. "Come back anytime," he replied.

Yuki turned to an empty space and held out her hand, and a Dark Corridor appeared in front of them.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. "You can open up those strange paths too?! I thought only Organization XIII could!"

She turned to give them a grim smile. "I used to be one of them, remember? Now that I've already travelled through the Dark Corridor, my memories of being in the Organization have reawakened, and the Dark Corridor is no longer a threat to my light, and the same goes to all of you. The Dark Corridor's darkness will not affect any of the light within you all. Now come, we'll all board the Gummi Ship and proceed to Radiant Garden to help Leon and the others out. We need to get there before it's too late."

* * *

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	12. Captured!

**Well... here's the next chapter!**

**Since my updates have now caught up with how much I've already written, updates may slow down a bit, like they have for A Digidestined's Destiny and Chuck Versus NCIS, so I apologize if you are eager beavers. lol. (sorry for the bad pun). **

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**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
:Disney (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Captured!

Once again, Sora and Co. arrived back on the Gummi Ship after transport through Yuki's Dark Corridor.

"Chip! Dale! Set course to Radiant Garden, we need to get there as fast as we can!" Yuki ordered.

"Aye aye, captain!" the two chipmunks exclaimed in union.

"Let's just hope we'll make it in time," Yuki said.

Sora and Donald nodded.

"Let's just hope that Leon and the others can _hold out_ until we get there," Donald replied.

- - - -

"Argh!" Leon growled, fending off more Heartless with his Gunblade. "Just how many damn Heartless are here?! Why are they all suddenly popping out of nowhere?!"

"I agree!" Yuffie replied. "This is crazy! Maybe we should call Sora?"

The brunette shook his head. "Absolutely not," he argued. "This amount of darkness would _kill_ Yuki! Remember, she's the Maiden of Light!"

Yuffie threw her huge shuriken and it slashed through several Heartless before returning to her. "But we _need_ help! Where are Cloud and Tifa?!"

"They're both _also_ fighting out with everyone else!" Leon replied hastily, cutting through other Heartless.

Suddenly, a Dark Corridor appeared in the midst of the battle, and suddenly a blinding white light shot from its center before Sora, Riku, Yuki and Donald ran through the darkness and into the midst of Heartless.

"Sorry we're late, guys!" Sora greeted breezily.

"Ah! Great timing!" Yuffie exclaimed.

Leon fought his way over to Yuki, and he could see the pain in her eyes. "Yuki! Are you alright?!" he demanded.

"I'll be fine," she responded, closing her eyes as she fended off Heartless before shooting a huge blast of fire from the tip of her Keyblade, vanquishing the nearby Heartless.

"Kixyu!" a booming voice called, and Yuki whipped around to see Xven standing nearby.

"Xven!" Yuki gasped. She could tell that something was wrong, as his normally-forest green irises were red.

He vanished, and the next thing Yuki knew, Xven was right in front of her, his Keyblade poised at her neck.

"Come back to me, my beloved," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. Then he leaned forward and kissed her.

"Yuki!" Riku cried, fighting his way over to them before Yuki pulled away abruptly.

"Xven, what are you doing?!" she demanded, leaping away while fending off more Heartless.

Suddenly, another Dark Corridor stepped through and Marluxia appeared behind her, his scythe poised at her neck.

"Marluxia… don't hurt her, 'kay?" Xven said.

"I can't make any guarantees," the pink-haired man replied before Yuki raised her Keyblade behind her to block Marluxia's weapon.

"Dammit, what the hell is going on Xven?!" Yuki exclaimed, looking at her friend's Nobody.

He grinned at her, almost evilly. "It's time you returned to us, Yuki. It's time you returned to the Organization with us," he said. "You're weak alongside the light. Darkness is your true essence."

Throwing Marluxia's scythe off, she rolled out from between them, and she smirked, "Well excuse me for being 'weak'." Her grin disappeared and she glared at Marluxia. "What have you done to Xven?!"

"The same thing we're planning on doing to _you_," he replied, appearing in front of her.

"Yuki!" Riku shouted just as he was two meters away from her… but it was already too late…

Yuki was knocked out when Xven hit the nerve spot under her shoulder blades as he appeared behind her, and she collapsed into Marluxia's arms, her Keyblade vanishing from her grip.

"Let go of her!" Riku growled, poising his Keyblade in front of him.

Marluxia glanced at Xven as the teen took Yuki from his arms, lifting her bridal style.

"Go, take her out of here," Marluxia said. "I'll deal with _him_. Return things back to the way they used to be. Return the _true_ Kixyu to us once more."

Angrily, Riku leapt forward to attack Marluxia as Xven leaped away with Yuki's unconscious body, a ring of fire surrounding him as to destroy the Heartless around him.

"Yuki!" Riku called after them.

Suddenly, Sora's Keyblade clashed with Marluxia's scythe as well as he stood alongside Riku.

"Go!" Sora told him urgently. "I'll take care of this guy! Go after Yuki!"

"Got it," Riku responded automatically, allowing Sora to take over as he went after the teen that kidnapped his Nobody girlfriend…

- - - -

"You beautiful, beautiful girl," Xven murmured, pulling a vial from his coat pocket and opening the lid.

He poured the bubbly green liquid down her throat, and she gasped, her eyes snapping wide open. The golden irises fluttered for a moment before a red hue washed over them, and her back arched, a writhing pain shooting through her entire body.

"Be mine and mine only," the 17-year-old whispered, leaning down to kiss her softly, and she relaxed under him, settling back into his lap, an arm wrapping around his neck.

As Xven pulled away, he gazed into the dark red eyes that mirrored his own. "Do you remember now?" he asked softly.

"Yes," Yuki purred, and he helped her up before they embraced.

"I've missed having you by my side, my precious pet," Xven chuckled.

Suddenly, Riku ran over to them.

"Yuki! Yuki!" he shouted.

Yuki turned to face him, and he gasped in horror at the red hue in her eyes. Both Xven and Yuki's Keyblades appeared and they both pointed them at him.

"Y-Yuki? W-What are you doing?" Riku stammered, his pale blue eyes wide with surprise and shock. "Don't you know who I am?"

She nodded, to Riku's relief… but he didn't get the answer he had expected. "Yeah, you're my _enemy_." She vanished, and just in the nick of time, Riku raised his Keyblade before Yuki's came crashing down on him.

"Yuki! Yuki! Dammit, _listen_ to me!" he shouted in frustration. "Please! This isn't you! I love you, Yuki!"

Xven smirked, a brutal laugh escaping his lips. "What are you _talking_ about? Oh please, the beautiful Yuki is _my_ girl," he corrected, and Yuki vanished, reappearing next to him, and he had an arm firmly around her waist, while the both of hers were resting on his chest.

To Riku's shock, he leaned down to capture her lips in his own, the two of them sinking into a deep kiss.

"N-No!" Riku exclaimed, his grip tightening on his Keyblade. He had never expected something like_ this_ to happen… and he found it absolutely excruciatingly terrible. The young woman he loved was in the arms of another, and it seemed it was that she was under some sort of spell.

Not before long, Sora and Donald managed to get to Riku's side, right as Yuki and Xven pulled away from each other before glaring back at them with blood red eyes.

"Y-Yuki?" Sora breathed in shock, betrayal and surprise.

"What are you doing over there?!" Donald shouted angrily.

She laughed, the voice empty and cold, which shook Riku's heart. Had the kind-hearted young woman he had always known vanished? Had the _true_ Yuki he knew been consumed by this evil darkness that had taken over her? "It is _you_ who are mistaken!" she hissed acidly. "Kingdom Hearts will return, and Organization XIII will destroy you all!"

All three were shocked by the words coming from Yuki's mouth.

"W-What happened to her?!" Sora gasped. "What's making her act like this?"

Yuki smirked. "I've _always_ been like this," she retorted sharply.

"No you're not!" Riku shouted. "You're a compassionate young woman who I'm proud to call my girlfriend!"

"Oh you _wish_," Xven replied, his arms sliding around her waist, pulling her against his chest. "My dear Yuki belongs to me and _only_ me."

Suddenly, a Dark Corridor appeared behind them, and Zexion stepped out, his Lexicon in hand. He sighed as he saw that Yuki's beautiful golden eyes were now red, and looked at Xven.

"Well… hello," he greeted tersely.

Xven smiled widely. "Hello, Zexion, as you can see, I have Yuki back in my possession," he replied. "Is it time to RTC?"

"Yeah…" Zexion answered quietly. "Go on. I'll go fetch Marluxia."

As Xven and Yuki stepped towards the portal, Riku took a step forward and cried out Yuki's name, but she didn't respond as both Nobodies disappeared through the portal.

"As I figured," Zexion sighed depressingly. "This is all part of Xemnas' plan. Now we have two Keyblade users in the Organization's possession. Please… I don't want to see her hurt anymore than you do."

They were all surprised at the feelings of the Nobody, and Riku's eyes hardened.

"Please… watch over her for us," he begged quietly in a pleading voice.

Sora forced a sad smile. "We'll try to get her back," he swore, "we promise."

"No," Riku corrected. "We _will_ get her back. I'm not going to lose her."

Zexion dipped his head. "You'll get her back, I promise," he retorted. "For the time being, I'll watch out to make sure that Xemnas doesn't plan to do anything bad to her, nor make her do anything bad. I'll try to stay with her for her missions as to watch for her."

Donald looked at him curiously. "Why do you care so much for her?" he inquired.

Lowering his head, he murmured, "I'm not sure why it's possible… but I care a lot for her. She's… important to me."

"You're in love with her?" Sora rephrased, surprising Riku.

"Yeah," the Nobody agreed, "I'm just as surprised as you are, considering I should _have_ these feelings of affection, considering I don't _have_ a heart. But… I suppose I _do_ love her. But I know her heart will always belong to Riku. It always _has_ belonged to Riku and Riku alone. Therefore, I believe that only Riku will be able to break her out of her spell. I _will_ do what I can, though."

"We know how important Yuki is to you, Riku," Sora said. "And we care for her too."

"But can we trust him?" Donald inquired.

Riku gritted his teeth. "We have no choice," he replied. "With his help we have a greater chance of saving Yuki. But in all honestly, I trust his personal intentions more than his promise to us."

"Fair enough," Zexion sighed. "Whatever makes you happy."

"Ecstatic," Riku replied sarcastically. "But please, take good care of her."

He nodded before leaving back through the Dark Corridor. The portal disappeared, and Riku's mouth tightened into a thin line. He was very frustrated and worried for his beloved girlfriend. Who knows what could be happening to her with the rest of Organization XIII?

- - - -

"Welcome back, Yuki," Xemnas announced as they were all gathered to welcome back one of their own. "It is good to have you back."

She sighed, semi-rotating her neck as she was dressed in the black cloak of the Organization. "Well… it's good to _be_ back, I suppose," she responded. "What's been happening since I've been gone?"

"Meddling troublemakers, that's what," Organization member #4 Vexen answered. "The Keyblade Master and his friends, as per say Riku as well."

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "And um, who are you again?" she inquired, knowing it would piss him off.

As expected, Vexen silently fumed as Lexaeus asked her, "Don't you remember us, Yuki?"

"Refresh my memory," she retorted coldly.

Zexion began pointing at each of the Organization members as he said their name. "Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Saix, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, and-"

"Xven, honey," Yuki finished, and he kissed her softly.

"You know it, baby," he retorted coolly.

Zexion bit his inner lip, knowing that the both of them were under a spell of the potion that they both drank, created by Vexen. _Well… it seems Vexen's potion is working as they expected,_ he thought. _I doubt there is an antidote. Hopefully Sora and Riku will be able to break the spell on the both of them. Otherwise I have to try and reach into the depths of Yuki's heart to find her light and somehow strengthen it so she can break out of this spell herself. She certainly has the magical prowess for it._

"So Yuki…" Saix began in a monotone, "have you any important detail or information for us to hear?"

"Those blasted Keybladers are trying to rid the worlds of the Heartless invading, as well as the Nobodies we send after them," she replied. "I suspect Maleficent is finally making her move by focusing most of the Heartless into Radiant Garden. What does she hope to achieve by retaking it?"

Vexen nodded slowly knowledgably. "That witch probably believes that she will be able to reopen Kingdom Hearts using that keyhole of darkness that Sora sealed off before," he inferred, "however, that would be impossible. That keyhole will not lead to the darkness that she wants."

"How close is Kingdom Hearts to be completed?" Xaldin inquired, looking at Xemnas.

The leader of Organization XIII looked through the clear glass up into the pitch black night, illuminated only by the forming heart-shaped moon in the sky: Kingdom Hearts.

"It will take a while," he answered. "We still don't have enough hearts yet to complete it."

Luxord turned to Yuki. "Kixyu, that boy, Riku, does he still harbour feelings for you?" he inquired suspiciously.

"I think so," she replied, "the fool."

"If you lure Sora and Riku into Heartless-filled worlds," Marluxia continued, catching onto what Luxord's forming plan was, "they'll collect hearts quicker for us to complete Kingdom Hearts."

Both Yuki and Xven nodded, their red eyes narrowing evilly.

"My beloved Yuki and I will take on this mission," Xven announced. "This should prove to be fun."

Yuki smiled evilly in agreement. "Together," she said, a dark black Keyblade phasing into her hand, "they don't stand a chance against us."

* * *

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	13. Stitching Things Together

**Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it!**

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**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts & Final Fantasy (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney stuff (c) Disney  
Claimer: Everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Stitch-ing Things Together

Riku sighed heavily as he sat down in a chair back at Merlin's house. They had finished wiping out all of the Heartless and Nobodies, but at a terrible price. Now Yuki was under Organization XIII's control, as it appeared that Xven was too.

"Don't worry, Riku," Sora assured, "we'll get her back. You'll see."

His pale aqua eyes dimmed. "But I'm still worried about her. She'll never be able to forgive herself if they force her to hurt other people," he replied pessimistically. "And I'm worried what all that darkness will do to her heart. Too much… and she'll die."

"Sora's right," Leon agreed. "There's no point in thinking about what could be. If we need to muse about something, we should be talking about how we can get her back. Look at Tifa, she's always trying to find Cloud so she can help him, and look: she helped him fight Sephiroth and helped his light. She cares for Cloud like you care for Yuki."

"Leon's absolutely right!" Yuffie agreed. "All we need to do is find Yuki and get her back!"

"Easier said than done," Donald commented. "She's under some sort of spell. Her eyes were red when we saw her."

Merlin dug through his various magic books. "Hmm… I'll see what I can find for a possible antidote or reversing potion," he said. "In the meantime, I would like the three of you to go with Leon to check out and fix one of the old generators under the city. I believe there may be a hidden keyhole in that there room somewhere."

"What?!" Sora gasped, "Really?! Let's go!"

Leon nodded. "Follow me," he said.

"The sooner we find Yuki, the sooner we can return her to us," Riku said. "I'm pretty sure that Zexion will keep her light maintained, because he wants to see her alive just as much as the rest of us. We'll just have to figure out how to bring her back to us. Hopefully we'll get to her in time."

- - - -

"Whoa… so _there's_ the keyhole?" Sora gasped, as they stared at a dusty, old, keyhole.

"I wonder where it leads to," Donald murmured.

"Who knows?" Leon retorted. "There's only one way to find out, right?"

Sora closed his eyes and focused on his Keyblade, and a silver gleaming light shot into the keyhole, unlocking a new road to a new world.

"Now all we need to do is travel to see where it goes," Donald said.

"And hopefully Yuki will be there," Riku said. "We'll get her back… no matter what."

- - - -

Taking the Gummi Ship, they landed on a sunny, beach location.

"Hmm… this kinda reminds me of Destiny Islands," Sora commented, looking around. "I wonder what they call this place?"

Riku looked around, and suddenly he noticed a fuzzy blue speck running at them from the distance. "What _is_ that?"

"Is that-?" Donald began, squinting.

"Stitch!" Sora exclaimed, laughing as he ran towards the fuzzy blue creature.

"Sora!" it exclaimed in joy, tackling Sora to the sand as it hugged him.

"Riku, this is my friend Stitch," Sora introduced, sitting up. "Stitch, this is my best pal Riku."

Stitch showed a toothy grin. "Ah… hiiii," he greeted.

Riku smiled back. "Hey," he said. "So… where are we?"

"Stitch home," Stitch answered, pointing at a little girl that was running over towards them. "Stitch best friend: Lilo."

"Stitch! Stitch!" the little girl known as Lilo exclaimed, running over to them, panting. "What are you doing? You know not to talk to strangers. Who _are_ these people? And what's with the duck man?"

"Hey!" Donald exclaimed angrily.

"They my friends," Stitch said. "Sora, Riku, Donald. We meet before."

Lilo's mouth turned into an 'O' shape as she understood. "Well hi, I'm Lilo, Stitch's owner," she greeted. "It's nice to meet friends of Stitch's. He's been acting a little weird lately."

Before Sora, Riku or Donald could say anything in response, a Dark Corridor opened on the beach nearby, and Yuki stepped out, Xven following not far behind, both dressed in the Organization's black coats. Yuki took a deep breath, exhaling just as deeply, and Xven's arms slipped around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Yuki!" Riku gasped, and both of them opened their eyes to reveal their stunning red haze, glancing at him.

"Ah… if it isn't my beloved _Riku_," Yuki hissed, her voice dripping with sarcasm and acid.

"Please, come back to us!" Riku begged. "Don't do this!"

Xven released his grip around Yuki's waist before the girl vanished, reappearing behind them, Lilo trapped squirming in her grip. A dark Keyblade was in Yuki's hand.

"Lilo!" Stitch gasped, crouching down into a growl as his eyes narrowed.

"Yuki, you don't want to do this," Sora warned warily, his Keyblade already appearing in his hand.

Riku hesitated, as he didn't want to hurt the girl he loved, but he knew she wouldn't want to ever hurt anyone good. "Yuki… please," he told her. "Why are you doing this?"

"We'll tell you why," Xven answered instead, teleporting next to his girlfriend. "Because she's return to who she _really_ should be."

"Yuki… you'd never hurt an innocent person," Riku said, his voice cracking near the end.

Yuki smirked. "How pathetic," she noted. "Perhaps then, you just don't know me at all as you think you do. In any case, I still 'remember' what I've been doing while with the rest of you fools. I can't believe I was actually infatuated with some weakling who was afraid of darkness."

This last sentence twisted at Riku's heart, and it really hurt him, considering this was being said by someone who was dear and very important to him.

"But Riku overcame that darkness!" Sora defended immediately. "And look at yourself! What right do you have to talk if you yourself have been taken by darkness?!"

Yuki raised her Keyblade, and a dark aura of blazing black and purple flames lapped at and around it. "The darkness has made me strong. There wasn't anything for me in the light."

"That's not true," Riku said quietly. "You had friends who cared about you. You had a home, and people who care and love you… like I do."

"Stitch, help!" Lilo cried, beating fruitlessly at Yuki's hard grip.

Stitch growled, about to pounce before Sora stopped him.

"Wait, Stitch," he said. "Yuki's our friend, but she's being controlled."

Stitch did a double-take from Sora to the struggling Lilo and back. "But, but Lilo," he began.

"We'll get her back," Riku assured. "But we just don't want to hurt Yuki in the process." He forced his own Keyblade to appear, inhaling deeply as he tried to adjust to the fact that he had to fight his girlfriend.

"You're a fool if you think you can defeat us without actually _hurting_ us," Yuki cackled. "Now as for _this_ little one." Tossing Lilo Pelekai into the sand, with her hand Yuki encased the little girl in a block of solid ice, Lilo's expression frozen to one of surprise and fear.

"Lilo!" Stitch exclaimed, scurrying over to scrabble at the ice, failing miserably. "Let her go!"

"Awww… that's so sweet it makes me _sick_," Xven spat, hugging his beloved Nobody.

Yuki smiled. "I couldn't agree more, honey," she said back, his Keyblade phasing into his hand.

"This is going to be a hard battle to fight," Donald murmured to his friends.

"Now should we deal with these pesky ex-friends of yours?" Xven asked his beloved girlfriend, both of them pointing their Keyblades at them.

"But don't forget our _real_ mission," she reminded him, resting her head against his chest.

With his other hand he gently stroked her hair, pressing his lips against the soft velvet strands, closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply. Neither of them had any _idea_ how this was hurting Riku.

_Dammit… I have to get her back as soon as possible,_ Riku thought. _I don't think I could bear anymore of this. I have to stop her before she hurts someone. She'll regret it after I break her out of the spell._

Stitch growled, ready to attack Yuki. As he leaped, Yuki's hand extended easily, catching the alien creature off-guard where he was suspended in the air, snapping and barking at Yuki nevertheless. With ease, she threw the creature back towards Sora, Riku and Donald.

"At the time being, only she and Xemnas are able to control the most powerful of Nobodies," Xven announced, looking at her. "Why don't you show them?"

Stepping away, a dark aura flared around her. "With pleasure," she announced, and four Dusks appeared.

"What?" Sora inquired in surprise, "But that's the _normal_ Nobodies that we fight."

Suddenly, the Dusks transformed into large, strange leopard-shaped Nobodies, the mark of the Nobodies on their chests. They were white-silver in colour, and they had thin-layered, transparent wings on their backs, they had narrowed black eyes, Hackles raised, they growled threateningly at them.

"Yuki… don't do this," Riku told her, desperation in his voice.

An evil grin crept onto her lips. "Of course I will," she retorted, and suddenly the leopard-Nobodies leaped, beginning to attack.

With great skill, they fought back and held their ground, while Riku kept trying to fight towards the girl he wanted to bring back. Suddenly, Yuki appeared in front of him and Riku quickly wound his arms around her, kissing her deeply, pouring his heart and feelings into her, trying to break her free from her spell.

Very gently, Yuki wrapped an arm around his neck before pulling away, opening red eyes. "You're a fool, Riku," she told him, "if you thought_ that_ was going to bring me back."

Without a second thought, she pushed him back and used a combo on him with her Keyblade, injuring him so greatly that he collapsed onto the ground.

"Riku!" Sora gasped, dashing towards his best friend to defend him, standing in front of him. "Yuki, stop it! This isn't you!" Pointing his Keyblade at her, a sharp light shot from its end before passing through her Keyblade and impacting Yuki's chest, causing the girl to stumble back, the red haze in her eyes shattering back to its normal gold. The Nobodies she had summoned vanished.

"W-What?" she breathed, her gaze turning to Riku who bore the injuries _she_ had inflicted on him. Tears streamed from her eyes and down her cheeks. "Riku… I'm so sorry…"

"Yuki!" Riku gasped, wincing in pain before Yuki's eyes slipped close, collapsing backwards before being caught by Xven, who caught her effortlessly in his arms. "Let go of her!"

Instead, Xven held her closer, and because Yuki was unconscious, the ice encasing Lilo melted, and the girl ran to hug Stitch, trembling slightly half from the cold, half from her fear.

"Stitch!" she gasped.

"Lilo!" Stitch replied, hugging her back.

Xven looked at Yuki before glancing back at the others, specifically Sora, with narrowed, angry eyes. "You'll pay for what you did to her. When Yuki wakes up… we'll come back and take our revenge…"

Suddenly a Dark Corridor appeared next to them, and Vexen stepped out, glancing at the unconscious girl in Xven's arms.

"Hmmm… it seems I've underestimated the power of the Keyblade Master's light," he murmured, taking Yuki from Xven as he placed his palm above her forehead, an icy blue glow radiating from his hand.

A pained gasp escaped Yuki's lips, and Vexen smirked as the girl crumpled in his arms from pain.

"Stop it!" Riku shouted weakly.

"Vexen," Xven snapped, fury rising within him, "what are you doing to her?! Stop it this instant!"

The blonde twisted his head to sneer at the younger Nobody. "You _do_ want to keep your precious Kixyu, do you not? If she had woken up before this, she would have ended up returning to those blasted kids over _there_."

"Hey!" Sora protested.

In his annoyance, Xven opened up a Dark Corridor, sweeping his unconscious girlfriend into his arms before carrying her limp body through the portal before it closed, Vexen following silently.

"Riku, are you okay?" Sora inquired worriedly, kneeling down next to his friend.

He shook his head. Though his wounds stung, what hurt more was that it was Yuki that had attacked him. Sitting back, he slowly stood up with Sora's help, his arm around his best buddy's shoulder. Donald looked at Lilo and Stitch.

"Are both of you okay?" the court magician inquired.

"Yeah…" Lilo replied. "I'm a little cold, but I think it'll be fine. So… who _are_ you guys?"

Stitch looked at them. "They are my friends," he said. "Sora and Donald."

"Hey, I'm Sora," Sora introduced, "this is Donald, and this is Riku."

Lilo nodded slowly. "Are you aliens like Stitch?" she inquired innocently. "Cause where _I_ come from, ducks don't talk."

As Donald began to steam, Riku shook his head. "We're not aliens, but we aren't from here."

Sora pulled a hi-potion from his pocket and handed it to Riku, and the elder teen drank it down, slightly recovering from the wounds, his strength gradually returning to him.

"We go home and talk," Stitch said to Lilo.

"Oh yeah… we have to prepare for the May Day festival," she said in realization. "Maybe we can do it on those weird things that popped out of nowhere. And who _were_ those two people in black-cloaks that kidnapped me?"

Riku's eyes dimmed. "My girlfriend and her childhood friend," he said.

"Come back home and we all talk," Stitch said, and they headed to Lilo and Stitch's house.

* * *

**Aww... Poor Riku... **

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	14. Stitch's Glitch

**Well... sorry people (especially Witchgirl590) for the long delay of the next chapter. Been busy, as my exams are soon coming up, so all the last minute tests and stuff with school and all are beginning to pile up. ANYWAY... here's the next chapter! **

**I was wondering whether I should add in any of the Final Fantasy XIII characters at Hollow Bastion as well? Hmm... **

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Stitch's Glitch

"Lilo! Where have you been?" Lilo's older sister Nani Pelekai demanded as she first saw Lilo and Stitch walking back home.

"I was following Stitch!" the little girl protested. "Then we ran into these weird people, and all this stuff happened, and then I was trapped in a block of ice, and then people disappeared into black holes out of nowhere!"

Nani blinked at her little sister as if she were insane. "Lilo, _what_ are you…" she trailed off as she saw Sora helping Riku walk while Donald supported Riku's other side. Though the hi-potion had helped, Riku was still tired and weak, mostly from the shock that his girlfriend had actually attacked and half-purposely wounded him. "Who _are_ those people? And is that… a duck? A _talking_, _huge, walking_ duck?"

"Hi there!" Donald greeted, and Nani stepped back.

"I-I must be going crazy…" she breathed, unsure of what to think.

"No, no, he's real," Sora reasoned. "Hi, I'm Sora, and this is Riku and Donald. We're friends with Stitch."

Nani looked down at the little fluffy blue creature. "You _know_ them?" she inquired in shock.

Stitch nodded. "Eh," it answered in alien language.

"We've met before a while back," Sora said. "He's helped me through some tough situations every time I call him."

"Um… well… hi, I'm Nani, Lilo's older sister," Nani greeted, still a little shaken. "Please, come in."

After they went into the house, they sat down on the couch, before two aliens walked into the room from the kitchen.

"Well hello there!" the large four-eyed purple alien greeted. "Nani, you never told us we were going to have guests!"

"Um… don't be shocked, but these aliens are living with us here," Nani began uneasily. "Jumba, Pleakley, these are Stitch's friends, Sora, Donald and Riku. This is Jumba and Pleakley, aliens from outer space."

The one-eyed yellow alien hurried over to shake their hands. "Oh, it's so nice to meet you," he greeted. "So where are you all from?" Then he stopped at Donald, his one large eye inspecting him curiously. "Oh, I've never seen a specimen like you before. Are you a mutated species of what the humans call a duck?"

Again, Donald began to fume before Sora calmed him down.

"No, Donald's normal, like the rest of us," Sora said. "Riku and I are from Destiny Islands."

Pleakley blinked his one giant eye. "That's not on Earth, is it?"

"What?" Donald said. "No! Destiny Islands are Destiny Islands!"

"Now, I'm confused," Jumba said. "You are from another world?"

All three of them nodded, then they began to explain their journey to them, at least… everything they needed to know, including the issues with Organization XIII, the Heartless, the Nobodies, as well as the recent developments with Yuki.

After they had finished talking, Riku felt a strange change within his heart. He had never loved anyone more than he had Yuki, and it was difficult to imagine what could happen to her while she was under Organization XIII's control.

_Riku…_ a familiar female voice called in his head. _Riku…_

"Yuki?" Riku murmured inaudibly to himself.

Sora and Donald looked at him.

"Did you say something, Riku?" Sora inquired.

The voice had vanished now, and Riku looked at his friends.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized shyly, half with embarrassment. "I was thinking about something else for a moment there."

"As we could see," Nani said teasingly.

"What were you thinking about?" Lilo inquired curiously.

Stitch's eyes sparked up mischievously. "Lurrvee?" he purred, which earned a sigh from the 16-year-old.

"Pretty much, yeah," he admitted. "I was thinking about Yuki. I just… I really want her back."

"We _all_ do, Riku," Sora replied. "We want her back just as much as you do. But there's nothing we can do right now to bring her back to us. She's still being controlled by Organization XIII."

"I know," he growled in frustration, clenching both his teeth and his fists. "But I just can't _stand_ to see her mixed in with them. Those guys are really bad news."

Jumba blinked his four eyes. "Well, there's nothing we can do until she returns, right?" he said.

"Yeah!" Pleakley agreed loudly. "Then you guys can try and bring her back! Then we could all become friends!"

Riku groaned. "It's not as easy as that," he argued in annoyance. "That potion, _whatever_ it is that is controlling her, it's powerful. It's not going to be easy to bring her _really_ back to us."

"Don't worry," Stitch assured. "Ohana."

He, Sora, and Donald looked at the fuzzy blue alien creature.

"What?" Donald questioned.

"Ohana," Nani repeated. "Ohana means 'family'. Family means-"

"No one gets left behind," Lilo continued.

Stitch nodded. "Or forgotten," he finished.

"We'll get her back," Sora agreed, looking back at Riku.

Lilo looked at Stitch. "That girl was really scary, wasn't she?" she said, which caused a pang of anguish in Riku's heart. "The one that attacked me?" Apparently she didn't understand that the Yuki Riku wanted back was the same Yuki that attacked her.

Stitch growled quietly in a kind-of hatred. "That meanie," he agreed. "I promise to protect you, Lilo."

"Thanks, Stitch," she replied happily, patting the alien on the head.

Their close relationship stung at Riku's heart like a bee.

_Oh… I miss her so much,_ he thought depressingly. _I have to get her back as soon as I can. Hopefully her heart hasn't been consumed by darkness yet. Maybe I should let myself fall back into the darkness… if that will help her…._

"So… what's the May Day festival we keep hearing about?" Sora inquired.

"It's kinda like a spring festival," Nani explained. "Lilo's participating in the hula competition."

The little girl sighed. "But I'm still not a hundred percent sure what we're going to do yet," she said depressingly. "Stitch is going to help me though. We've been trying to figure out something _all day_."

"Eh!" Stitch agreed cutely.

Sora looked at Riku and Donald. "Well… it doesn't seem like there's a lot of Heartless in this world," he said. "But then again… without Yuki, it's a little harder to tell." Turning back to Nani, Lilo and Stitch, he asked, "Has there been anything weird happening lately here? Any dark shadows attack?"

They looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Not that we know of," Nani said.

"_We_ haven't seen anything strange either," Lilo agreed. "Everything seems pretty normal to us; at least… to Stitch and me."

"Hmm…" Sora hummed thoughtfully. "So I wonder why I feel like we should be here…"

Riku looked at him with a sigh. "Maybe it's because of Yuki?"

"Maybe…" Donald replied. "Every world we've been at has had something special for us to accomplish. Maybe in this world, it's our duty to get back Yuki. Unless you guys can think of some other reason."

"Maybe we're to help out with the May Day festival?" Sora suggested.

"Sora," Riku retorted, "it's _never_ that simple. There's some sort of catch. There's probably going to be some sort of Heartless or Nobody trouble here. At _some_ point…"

_Hopefully we'll be able to get Yuki back,_ Sora thought. _We all need her. More importantly, _Riku _needs her. She's like the heart of our group. _

"Um… what's a Heartless? And what's a Nobody?" Lilo inquired, looking up between Jumba and Pleakley.

"A Heartless is a… um…" Pleakley began, "something without a heart! And a Nobody is a nobody; Uh… the opposite of a somebody!"

Riku, Sora and Donald couldn't help but laugh.

"Well… you're _kinda_ right," Sora said.

"A nobody is an entity without a heart, but is much smarter than Heartless, which are, as you say, beings without hearts," Riku explained. "Nobodies have the capability to think for themselves, while Heartless are also lead by a master of darkness. In this case, a powerful witch named Maleficent."

"The strange thing that we recently discovered is that Riku's girlfriend, Yuki," Donald added, "is that she is in fact, a Nobody herself. Except the strange thing is that Yuki's heart has been turned to her Nobody's body. The girl herself, Yuki's _true_ self…"

"We have no idea where she is," Sora finished, "_or_ what's happened to her."

Pain flashed in Riku's pale blue eyes, every muscle in his body tensing. "I _need_ to find her and get her back," he said.

"We'll get her back," Sora promised. "We will, I'm sure of it."

Nani sighed, "Well… this is a little sudden, but to clear the dark atmosphere, do you three want to stay for movie night? We're watching a sci-fi movie."

xXx

"Mmm…" Yuki murmured as she opened her red eyes. "Where am I?" she looked around to find herself in her white, empty room. She was laying on the bed, her hands folded over her stomach, her head resting against a pillow.

Xven had his head bowed by her side, and now he looked up at him. "Yuki! You're awake!" he gasped in relief, swiftly moving to kiss her powerfully on the lips. "I thought I almost lost you!"

"Xven," she breathed in relief, throwing her arms around his neck in a hug. "Oh my gosh, what happened?"

"That dratted brat, Sora," he hissed in hatred, his eyes filling up with rage, "he shot you with his Keyblade, and you collapsed. Vexen came and healed you, and then we brought you back here, and I took you back here to rest. You've been out for a while, and I've been staying by your side for the past few hours because I'm worried about you. And… because I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too," she whispered back, and they shared another passionate kiss before Xven pulled away, staring her directly in the eyes.

"I promise I will make those dratted Keybladers pay for what they did to you," he swore. "I'll make sure they _pay_. They will rue the day they decided to mess with _my girlfriend._"

xXx

Nani had placed all the late night snacks on the table, with help from Sora, Riku and Donald, who had gotten a change of clothes to match the hot temperatures of Hawaii, consisting of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and shorts. They all sat in front of the TV, along with Nani's boyfriend David, all of them with their little hats and creative antennas on their sci-fi movie theme.

"We have deep fried marsh cockroach," Nani announced, picking up a red cockroach-looking thing and eating it. "Mmm… delicious."

Pleakley looked pale. "I think I'm about to throw up," he said.

"Hmmm… looks good," Sora said, picking up and trying one. "Tastes good too."

David picked up one of the eyeballs in a red liquid, looking at his girlfriend. "Um… Nani? What's this?"

"Alien eyeball dumplings," Nani answered spookily, though failing.

Pleakley picked one up with two of three fingers and looked at it. "What kind of sick joke is this?" he demanded, slightly offended at how similar it looked to his own single eyeball.

"Don't make her mad," Jumba whispered, pushing the dumpling into his mouth, "eat it."

The one-eyed alien grabbed at his throat as if in choking as it went down his throat. He 'choked' for a moment before stopping and commenting, "It's good."

Stitch was slobbering in the nacho bowl all over the place while Lilo depressingly watched. Stitch stopped, looked at Lilo and opened his mouth wide, pulling out a small red bug.

"Cockroach?" he offered.

Lilo looked away. "I'm too upset to eat," she sighed, still confused over her May Day performance routine.

Stitch looked at Donald, offering out the cockroach. "Cockroach?" he inquired.

"Uh… no thanks…" the duck replied uneasily, mentally shivering.

Stitch threw it back into his mouth and ate it.

"I'm hula-less," Lilo groaned.

"Aww, honey, I'm sure you'll come up with something," Nani reassured.

Sora and Riku grinned.

"Don't worry, Lilo, we'll help you out," Sora said.

Riku nodded. "Sounds like fun," he agreed. "With our help, we'll help you make the best hula ever." _And I'm sure that if Yuki was here, _he added silently, _she would love to help out; costumes and everything. _

"Come on, let's watch the movie," her elder sister said.

xXx

Halfway throughout the movie, Pleakley was toying with the fake antennas on his head and looked at Jumba. "It's a little bit redundant, don't you think?" he commented.

"Shush," Jumba hushed immediately, "I am trying to watch movie."

"It's pretty interesting," Sora agreed. "Very cool."

David continued to stare at the television as he whispered to Nani. "Nani, I think you did a great job with family… fun… night…" he trailed off as he saw that she was asleep.

"Psst," Pleakley whispered, "I know what your problem is."

"What?" he demanded.

"I'm sorry to break it to you," the one-eyed alien continued, "but your relationship has fizzled."

"But we've been only going out for three weeks!" he defended.

Pleakley stared back at his magazine. "A fizzle, is a fizzle," he replied, showing him his magazine, "according to _this_, comfort plus time equals boring."

"Personally, I disagree on that logic," Riku argued. "My girlfriend and I can always afford comfort and time with each other, and we're most _definitely_ not bored with each other. In fact, we love each other much more."

David looked at Nani. "I think she's just tired," he suggested.

"Tired?" Pleakley said, raising a thoughtful finger, "Or tired of _you_?"

"Shhh…" Jumba, Lilo, Stitch, Donald and Sora hushed.

"Fine," he sighed, "I just wanted to dance at your wedding, but-"

"Shhh…" they hushed again.

"Fine," Pleakley retorted stubbornly, reopening up his magazine.

xXx

Not too long afterwards, Lilo and Stitch was laughing at a part in which the giant mutant was breaking through the glass of a store. Jumba, Sora and Pleakley were watching intensely while eating Nani's eyeball dumplings. Donald was eating the strange nacho dip.

All of a sudden, Stitch began to spasm, his eyes glowing green. As quick as it came, it stopped, and Stitch raised his paper bag mask to look at his fur before shrugging and putting his mask back on. Another spasm came, and this time one of Stitch's extra arms stuck out from his torso, and after the spasm stopped, he removed the bag to look down and inspect his extra arm carefully before hiding it once more.

"Something wrong, Stitch?" Riku inquired, noticing something was up with the little guy, and immediately Stitch shook his head.

As they all returned to the movie, Stitch had another spasm, and this one caused him to fly and hit the wall with a silent _smack_. More spasms continued, and suddenly Stitch threw himself on the table, making a mess and causing everyone to be in surprise as food was splattered all over the walls and the others.

"Oh, Stitch!" Nani gasped as the alien creature was flung to the back wall behind the couch, continuing his spasm.

Immediately Jumba turned back to look at the creature he had created. "Oh Stitch," he gasped, "oh no…"

xXx

"Yuki, Xven, are you both ready?" Saix inquired.

Xven nodded, looking at his girlfriend. "Are you well enough?" he asked.

She sighed tiredly, "I'm still tired, but I have enough magic to do this."

"I'll protect her if it should come to that," Xven promised, holding her against his chest, pressing his lips into her hair.

"Hmmm…" Saix murmured, turning to look at Zexion. "Zexion, I want you to go with them. Make sure the Keyblade Master and his pesky friends aren't able to harm this precious couple." The No. 2 of the Organization walked over to him to add, "and don't allow Riku to get close to or be alone with Yuki. It may be able to break the potion's spell."

_Excellent,_ Zexion thought, _maybe this will be the key to helping her._

"Of course, you know your mission," he added.

Zexion twisted his head away, pain reflecting in his eyes. "I know…"

* * *

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	15. Hula Inspiration

**Well... it's been far too long since I've updated, so... it's time for a new chapter! :D**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
****Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Hula Inspiration

Riku sighed as he stared up into the night sky, hands behind his head as he lay on the roof of Lilo's house. Even as he stared up into the blanket of gorgeous stars, he couldn't help but still think about Yuki. It had been nearly an entire day since she had been taken under Organization XIII's control; since she had left him, and every moment of it hurt.

"Hey Riku, what are you doing up here?" a familiar voice inquired, and Sora's head popped up from the side of the roof. "You mind if I joined you?"

The silver-haired teen shook his head, and Sora hopped up to sit down by his best friend, glancing up at the sky.

"You must really miss her, don't you," Sora said quietly.

He nodded, sighing. "If Yuki ends up having any recollection of what she did as she was being controlled, this will break her heart," he explained. "She's going to be heartbroken, she'll never forgive herself. It's going to be hard for her to even be able to face me."

"Aw, come on, Riku," he tried to reassure. "You're underestimating how positive Yuki can be."

Riku shook his head, sitting up and staring across the vast horizon across the sea. "I've spent time a lot longer with Yuki than you have," he said softly with a reminiscing smile. "During the time I've spent with her in Castle Oblivion after I found her, she's always been kinda a pessimist. But then again, due to all the terror Marluxia and Larxene had put her through, I'm not surprised. Even if its something like this, it may be difficult for her to find the courage to even look me in the eyes again." He looked up into the night sky. "These are difficult times… for the both of us."

"But you've both changed, haven't you?" Sora asked optimistically.

He smirked. "That may be true, but even so," he half-agreed, "Yuki will also retain some of that pessimistic nature. It's a part of who she is, and self-sacrifice always _did_ seem to come naturally to her. According to her, I haven't changed much either. Matured, maybe, but I'll always retain some of my old childish nature as well. As for you… well… you're a different story." A glint of mischief shone in Riku's eyes as he glanced at his best pal. "You never were the brightest bulb."

"Hey!" Sora retorted defensively, causing Riku to chuckle.

"Still… I miss her," the 16-year-old sighed, raising his head up to look up at the sky above him. "Ever since I had to leave her back on Destiny Islands to try and wake _you_ up, there wasn't a day gone by that I didn't miss her. Since Organization XIII was still after her, I had no choice but to leave her where she would hopefully be a little safer."

Sora looked at him. "Why didn't you ever mention about having a girlfriend when we found you in the World That Never Was?" he inquired. "Even after we beat Xemnas, you said that you couldn't go on. Didn't you think about Yuki?"

"I did," he sighed again, "but that's my point. _Because_ I was thinking about her I didn't think it was best if I could go on. I cause her nothing but pain."

He cocked his head at him, his eyes glimmering with worry. "But weren't you the one that made her feel love; love for _you_? She loves you, you know?" He pointed out.

Riku shrugged. "Even though she's been a Nobody, she has the heart of her true self. If her true self were to reawaken again and Yuki would be lost, I don't know what I'd do. One thing would be to probably try to make her fall in love with me again, but that's easier said than done," he explained. "Yuki's always been a sensitive and delicate soul, and I've always felt like I've had to handle her with care or else she'd break under my touch."

"But she's not _that_ delicate," Sora argued. "After all, she's skilled with a Keyblade, right?"

He scoffed, "Not _just_," he retorted. "She's also a skilled hand-to-hand fighter."

"So there's nothing you need to worry about Riku," Sora said. "She'll break out of the spell eventually, and so until then, you can't lose hope."

Riku sighed and shrugged. "I'm just hoping to protect her from doing anything bad, because when she breaks out of the spell, she might remember what she's been doing as she was under the potion's control, therefore, she's going to bear a heavy burden with all this."

Sora grinned. "Then it'll be our job to make sure she doesn't do anything bad! Plus, that Organization member, Zexion, was it? He also said that he'd help make sure that Yuki didn't do anything bad either," he reassured. "So he'll keep an eye out for her."

The older teen shrugged. "I hope you're right," he said. "Yuki's always been there for me, wherever I was. But now… I don't know whether I can be there for her when she needs me the most." Riku laid his head down and closed his eyes, sighing heavily. "Well… night, Sora."

"You sure you want to sleep here tonight, Riku? You're probably going to have an early wake-up call when the sun rises in the morning," Sora commented.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," he replied, brushing it off easily with a wave as he didn't bother to open his eyes. "Night."

Sora stared at Riku worriedly for a moment before getting onto his feet and heading off the roof. "Night, Riku," he bid before disappearing from the roof.

Feeling no other presence other than his own, Riku opened his eyes, staring up into the stars as he whispered softly, "Good night…Yuki…"

xXx

_"R-Riku…" Yuki breathed in amazement, staring at the teen as if seeing him for the first time. _

_"Yuki!" Riku exclaimed, running over to embrace the girl tightly in his arms, pressing her against his chest. "I thought I lost you."_

_She shook her head, burying her face against him, indulging herself in his scent. "I love you, Riku," she whispered, tears of relief and joy streaming down her face. _

_Slowly, Yuki turned in his arms so that his chest pressed against her back, his arms wrapped around her stomach as he pressed his face into her hair, her hands resting over his as she closed her eyes. _

_"I love you too, Yuki," he murmured, and suddenly Yuki jerked in his arms. _

_"Yuki?" he inquired worriedly, opening his eyes to find an arrow protruding from Yuki's chest, blood spilling from the new wound."Yuki!"_

_Just a few meters in front of them, a dark portal had opened, and an arrow had been shot from it, impacting Yuki before either of them noticed the portal. _

_Riku cried Yuki's name as he lowered her onto his lap, trying to coax her to stay awake. "Come on Yuki, you can't die," he pleaded, breaking the arrow as close to the head as he could. "Please, you just can't."_

_"R-Riku…" she rasped, every breath hurting her greatly. "I-I can't-"_

_He shook his head, tears spilling over his light azure orbs. "Y-You can't. You're going to survive!"_

_She weakly smiled at him, the light in her beautiful golden eyes beginning to fade. "I love you," she breathed, closing her eyes for the final time as she died. The beautiful crystal pendant hanging around her neck shattered, the shards vanishing._

_"NO!" Riku screamed, clutching her body against him, one hand on the back of her head. "YUKI!" _

_But it was already too late. The girl was gone. Weeping, tears fell from his eyes as he held her against him. He had failed her…_

xXx

"No!" Riku gasped, snapping up, looking around to find that the sun was breaking, and dawn was coming. He was still lying on the roof of Lilo's house, all alone, only a blanket draped over him. He sighed in relief, realizing that it was just a nightmare. "Wow…" he murmured to himself. "I love her more than I thought."

Sighing as he remembered that Yuki was not with him at the time, he stared across the distance, where a new day was beginning. Looking down at the blanket, he cracked a smile.

_Just too nice…_ he thought. _Damn… I hope I can get Yuki back soon…_

xXx

"Yuki… so you know the plan?" Xven inquired, nuzzling his girlfriend's neck.

She nodded, staring into his red eyes. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Yes," he answered. "This is the only way."

Pain radiated in Yuki's ruby eyes. "B-But Xven…" she began hesitantly, "I-I'm scared."

He held her against him. "I know," he said, holding her tighter. "I'm scared too. I don't want you to do this as much as you do. But we both know this has to be done. Like I said, this is the only way."

Stray tears fell from her eyes, and he gently wiped them away with his gloved thumb. "It'll be alright," he reassured, looking at her directly in the eyes. "I promise you, it'll all work out."

Sniffling, she nodded, trusting her beloved Nobody before hugging him tightly. "I-I trust you, Xven. Don't let me down, my love."

xXx

Riku sighed, scratching his head as he, Sora, and Donald washed up and he and Sora got changed into more suiting clothes with their surroundings, Riku wearing a white, short-sleeved collared shirt and dark shorts, while Sora wore a T-shirt and shorts.

"Well… this will be interesting," Donald said. "I guess it's best if I stay inside, considering it wouldn't be normal for me to be walking around.

"Yeah," Nani agreed. "It's not natural for human-sized ducks to be walking around clothed and talking. No offense."

Riku looked outside the window. "Hmm… well… it looks like today's going to be a good day."

"Heard it might rain though later," she added.

"Where are Lilo and Stitch?" Sora inquired.

Nani glanced upstairs. "I think they're still in their room," she guessed. "Lilo's still trying to come up with a hula. Maybe you boys could help her with her inspiration."

"Is Stitch okay?" Donald inquired. "Especially with what happened last night during the movie."

"Yeah, I _think_ he's okay now," Nani responded.

"Where did Jumba and Pleakley go?" Donald inquired, looking around.

"No idea," Nani answered with a shrug. "We haven't seen them since last night after Stitch's incident."

"So where are they planning on heading?" Riku inquired. "We can go around with them to see if we can help." He looked at Sora and Donald. "At the same time, we can explore the area and check whether there are any Heartless and Nobodies around," he told them.

Nani shrugged. "Those kids will go practically _anywhere_," she informed them. "Hopefully you guys can help Lilo come up with a hula _soon_."

Sora grinned. "Don't worry, you can count on us," he assured. "We'll help them come up with something for sure!"

Not long afterwards, Lilo and Stitch came down from their room and they looked at them.

"Morning, you two," Sora greeted.

"Morning Sora, morning Donald, morning Riku," Lilo greeted.

Riku patted them on their heads. "Morning," he said softly, "Are you guys ready to go find inspiration for your hula?"

"Yep!" they both replied cheerily.

He smiled. _It's been a while since I've seen such happy times,_ he thought. _I wish that I could just hold Yuki in my arms again. Man… I miss her a lot._

"Then let's go!" Sora cheered.

xXx

"So… what are you guys thinking for a hula?" Sora implored curiously.

Lilo sighed. "We can't come up with anything," she whined. "That's why we need help."

"Has anything strange happened in the past few days to the last week?" Riku inquired, looking at Sora. "We might as well check out the state of this place, and get rid of any heartless if we can. Maybe we might find a lead."

The Keyblade Master shrugged. "Maybe we might," he said.

Lilo held up her map of Hawaii, five peculiar landmarks distinct on it: a barber shop pole, a coffee and donut, a pair of undershorts, a burger and soda, and a bench. A picture of a man named Elvis was placed on top of the compass on the map. "This is a map of everywhere that Elvis went in Kawai. Our mission: go to these places where the King would give us an idea for our hula," she instructed sternly.

Sora and Riku blinked as they bended over to look at the map.

"Well… if you say so," Riku said. "But I'm not exactly sure how Elvis is gonna help you. But… if it helps your hula, let's go."

xXx

After visiting all five of the locations, with Stitch freaking out once at almost every place, Riku and Sora sighed in exhaustion.

"Wow… it's been a long, long day," Riku sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat down on one end of the bench.

Beside him sat Lilo, beside her Stitch and Sora.

"You said it," Sora agreed.

"We didn't find _anything_," Lilo sighed. Looking out over the sea, she shouted out, "Okay Elvis, we're ready to receive a great idea for our hula!"

There was momentarily silence as a chicken paddled by.

"That's it! I got it!" Lilo exclaimed, leaping up onto the bench.

"Got what?" Sora implored.

"Elvis is trying to tell us to make our hula about a chicken!" she declared confidently.

Stitch placed a fuzzy paw on her arm and shook his head. "No he isn't," he said gently, pulling her down next to him.

Trying to go remain optimistic, Lilo blinked before shrugging, looking back at Stitch. "Well… there are plently of other places we can go to," she said, patting her map.

_Well… it's good for her to remain optimistic,_ Riku thought.

Suddenly, a raindrop fell from the sky and hit Lilo on the nose. The next thing she knew, the map had been snatched from her lap by a chicken.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as the rain began to fall harder.

"Uh oh," Sora commented as he and Riku followed after Stitch and Lilo as they chased after the chicken and their map.

"Hey! Give that back!" Lilo exclaimed, jumping for the chicken, but she missed, and the chicken dropped the map.

Unfortunately, the map unravelled and began to float with the wind, and immediately Stitch leaped up onto a rock and jumped to grab the map, successfully grabbing it.

"Yes! Nice job Stitch!" Sora cheered.

"That was a close one," Riku sighed.

Without warning, Lilo tripped and barrelled into Stitch, and the map flew from their grasp and into the path of a passing truck, running over the wet piece of paper.

Skidding to their sides, Riku and Sora kneeled down next to them.

"Are you both okay?" Sora demanded.

Ignoring him, Lilo ran to go pick up her map, but it fell apart in her hands. She drooped forward, dragging herself away. "We're sunk," she surrendered.

"Awww… don't say that," Riku assured, "I'm sure you guys will be able to find an idea for your hula."

Stitch dropped to his knees and began to beat the ground, whining and tearlessly weeping.

"Come on, cheer up, Stitch," Sora said, "it's not your fault."

Immediately, Lilo came back and began dragging Stitch by the legs away, Sora and Riku following. They walked over to the gas station not far and Lilo pulled some paper towels from the dispenser and handed two to Sora and Riku, then began to wipe Stitch dry.

"I know that it's hard to give up sometimes, but if you don't give up on Elvis, Elvis won't give up on you," she said positively.

Stitch nodded.

"Good philosophy, Lilo," Riku complimented.

Suddenly, they noticed that there was music playing, and they turned to see the owners of the gas station playing a song. Immediately, Lilo ran to them.

"That song," she recognized, "it's about the Hawaiian goddess Hi'iaka!"

"Hey, that's right, Lilo," they agreed.

"That's a great story!" Lilo exclaimed, looking at Stitch. "Friendship, jealousy, death by molten lava, do you _know_ what this means?" She was shaking Stitch now.

Immediately, they both ran out into the rain and shouted to the skies, "Thank you, Elvis!"

They began to swing each other around cheerfully.

"We have our hula!" Lilo cheered.

Riku and Sora stuck under the station where it was dry, and they shrugged simply, not really understanding what nor how Lilo managed to get her idea for her hula.

"Hey Riku, why don't you go take Lilo and Stitch back home so they can get working on their hula?" Sora implored, "I'm going to take a look around the island and see if I can find anything."

* * *

**OMG obviously something's gonna happen! What are Xven and Yuki planning? POOR RIKU!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	16. Fought and Loss

**It's been nearly 10 months since I last updated a chapter of this fic, and probs wasn't going to until I got a message from ~**kaigirl16 **to plx update a new chapter, and so I'm pretty much updating this just for them. **

**FYI, most likely I think I'm going to end up dropping this fic for several reasons:  
1. mainly lost interest in the Kingdom Hearts series  
2. will no longer have time because I have diplomas this year T_T  
3. a little more focused with the other fanfics I have going on right now.**

**So... there's a likely chance I'll drop this fic completely, but if my interest is renewed and whatnot later in time, I might continue it too. So, for now I will leave it on HIATUS until further notice.**

**But for the sake of a certain dedicated reader named ~**kaigirl16 **I will update this next chapter just for them! :D Thanks a lot and I really REALLY appreciate your awesome support! THANK YOU!**

**PLEASE R&R!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura  
: Disney characters (c) Disney  
Claimer: everything else (c) me**

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Chapter Fifteen: Fought and Loss

Sora was taking a calming-yet-rainy walk down by the quiet ocean side, gazing out over the horizon, reminding him so much of home. It had been a long time since he had strolled peacefully on the shores of Destiny Islands with Kairi and Riku. He gazed out across the sea, and he allowed his mind to wander into the past where he had enjoyed such simple and carefree times with his two best friends.

Without warning, a Dark Corridor appeared, and a dark chuckle rumbled from its center.

"Who's there?" Sora called, making his Keyblade appear.

Yuki stepped from the darkness, a dark smile plastered on her face. Her dark Keyblade was in her grasp, and she flicked back some of her dampening dark hair.

"Yuki!" he gasped. "W-What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "Here to finish off what I started," she answered. "If it wasn't for _you_, I would have been able to finish off that weakling Riku while I had the chance."

"What are you _saying_ Yuki?" Sora demanded in horror. "Riku _loves_ you, and you loved him too. You loved him before you were kidnapped by Organization XIII. Please… don't do this."

Immediately as the Dark Corridor closed behind her, she leaped forward at him with her Keyblade poised at him. Sora leaped away by instinct as her Keyblade came down on where he had been standing into the wet sand.

"Why would I ever love _that_ weakling?" she snickered. "He can't even beat the darkness on his own. What makes you think that I could ever possibly love _that_ stupid child?"

"You don't mean that, Yuki," Sora told her, feeling his heart ache for what his best friend must be going through. "I know that somewhere in your heart you still love Riku."

She paused her next advance, cackling darkly into the rainy sky. "You _are_ a fool, Keyblade Master," she told him. "I don't _have_ a heart, recall?"

"But you do!" he shouted. "You have the _real_ Yuki's heart inside you! You told us before that you felt guilty that you took the real Yuki's heart and name, when your true Nobody name was always Kixyu."

She cackled. "It's funny really, Keyblade Master," she mocked. "You forget that Nobody's don't _have_ a heart. Even _if_ you claim that I have stolen the _real_ Yuki's heart, there is no way I have it, because I am a Nobody. Therefore, by your logic, the real Yuki's heart is lost forever."

"What?" Sora responded. "No, you're lying. You _do_ have Yuki's heart. You just can't see it yourself!"

Her face twisted into a cold, conniving sneer. "You're truly naïve, Keyblade Master Sora," she told him. "And your naivety is what will cause your downfall."

"YUKI!" a voice cried out, and both of them glanced to see Riku running towards the beach.

"Here comes the fool Riku now," Yuki smirked, crimson eyes glaring back at Sora. "Let's finish this, Keyblade Master."

Immediately, Yuki leaped at Sora, her Keyblade outstretched to kill.

"Yuki, don't make me do this! I don't want to fight you!" Sora shouted, but it was too late. He had no choice but to raise his own Keyblade to try and counter hers.

There was a clash of thunder as a storm of sand exploded when both sides crashed, blinding Riku's view as he rushed faster to the scene. He had sensed Yuki's presence on the island, and he knew that he had to get her back before it was too late and he was going to lose her to the darkness forever.

"Yuki! Sora!" he cried.

As the sand cleared, Riku gasped as he saw that Sora's Keyblade had pierced through Yuki's chest, and darkness began to separate from her body, the darkness of her Organization cloak disappearing. The Keyblade in her hand dropped to the sand and faded in black smoke. Her eyes had returned back into their beautiful golden. Sora's eyes were wide with horror as he realized that he had stabbed his best friend's girlfriend… possibly even fatally.

"YUKI!" Riku screamed, forcing his legs faster towards them.

"S-Sora…" Yuki murmured, and she grunted with pain as Sora pulled his Keyblade from her body, stepping back in utter horror. As she fell back, Riku swept under her just in time to catch her in his arms.

"Yuki!" he gasped, staring into her dim golden eyes. He instantly whirled on his best friend. "Sora! What did you just do?"

Sora took another two steps backwards in shock. "I-I didn't mean to, I-"

"Riku…" Yuki interrupted with a weak smile. "I-I'm so sorry…"

"No, n-no…" he begged, his voice sounding desperate as his eyes locked with hers. "You can't leave me, Yuki. I just got you back. Please… you can't."

She smiled weakly. "T-Thank you, Sora… for freeing me… I-I'm so sorry, Riku. I love you…" she murmured, "I really do."

"I… I love you too, Yuki," he wept softly. "I always have, and I always will. Please… just… you can't die."

Her eyes slipped close, a faint smile touching her lips as her head tilted lifelessly against his chest, and Riku cried, wrapping his arms around her as much as he could as he saw the crystal pendant shattered with Yuki's death. She looked so peaceful in his arms, so innocent. Water streamed down her face from the rain like tears, and her bangs stuck to her forehead with the weight of the rain.

Brokenly, Riku silently wept for the young woman he had fallen in love with and lost… and Sora was shaken speechless. He had been _responsible_ for Yuki's death, because _he_ had been the one to stab her in the end.

Sora took a step forward, beginning. "Riku, I-"

"No, Sora," Riku cut off in a quote. "I don't want to hear your excuses. You _killed_ Yuki. It's _your_ fault she's dead!"

"I'm sorry Riku, but I-"

"No, Sora!" he snapped. "Get out of my sight. Leave me alone." He cradled Yuki closer as he wept for his girlfriend's death.

The dumbfounded Keyblade Master realized that there was nothing he could say to ease his friend's pain… and so –with a heavy heart, he had no choice but to leave him alone.

xXx

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed as he returned. "You're soaked! What happened? Where's Riku?"

Pain found itself into Sora's twin orbs, and Donald immediately caught notice of this. "Sora, what _happened_?" he demanded.

"I-I-I-" Sora stammered, still in disbelief that the Nobody was really gone, "I killed Yuki…"

The duck's eyes widened into two near-perfect circles. "_W-W-WHAT? _Sora, what are you saying?"

"I-I didn't mean to!" the teen protested, "She attacked me on the beach, we were fighting, I-I don't know what happened, she came at me, there was a flash of lightning, I-I just… I-I just…" Tears found their way into his eyes as the salty droplets streamed down his cheeks. "I-I didn't mean to."

"It's not your fault, Sora," Donald said sadly. "You had no choice." He paused for a moment as Sora tried to fight back more tears. "Does Riku know?"

He bit his lip before nodding. _He blames me for it too,_ he thought sadly. _How am I ever going to face Riku ever again?_

xXx

"Well, everything seems to be going according to plan," Vexen said proudly.

"You must be very proud of yourself, Vexen," Zexion told bitterly. _Trying to set Riku and Sora against each other,_ he thought. _It's so terrible…_

"Kixyu…" Xven murmured miserably.

"It's alright, Xven," Marluxia assured. "She's just a Nobody."

He glared at him with hard crimson eyes. "She's not _just_ any Nobody," he hissed. "She's _my_ girlfriend!"

xXx

It wasn't until after sunset that Riku returned. Sora and Donald sat outside on the porch, and the 15-year-old had explained everything to him with a heavy heart. Rain continued to fall from the sky, and while Lilo and Stitch were in their room working on their hula, _they_ had been mourning a lost friend.

They heard heavy footsteps coming towards them, and they looked to see Riku stalking back depressingly and alone. His formally-clear pale azure eyes were clouded with pain and grief, and his face was set in a stony mask of despair.

"R-Riku…" Sora said sadly as the elder teen approached. He was scared to meet eye contact with his best friend, afraid to see them laid with blame.

"Sora, it's okay," Riku responded quietly. "Thank you for setting Yuki free in the end."

He was in shock. "But Riku, I-I _killed_ her," he protested. "It's all my fault that she's gone!"

The silver-haired teen shook his head. "It's not your fault, Sora," he argued. "I know I was mad at you before, but then I realized… it wasn't your fault. It's Organization XIII's fault this happened." With a heavy heart, he raised his gaze to the cloudy sky, rain falling onto his face and streaking down his cheeks like tears. "I'm sure that Yuki would have rather died by the hands of one of her friends than continue to do Organization XIII's dirty work."

Sora bit his lip, looking away guiltily as tears streamed from his eyes. He knew what had happened was his fault, and that it was right for Riku to blame him, but because he didn't… it only made him feel even guiltier.

"We'll make sure Organization XIII pays for what happened to Yuki," Donald swore, and both teens nodded in silent agreement.

"Sora…" Riku said gently, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. "Don't blame yourself for what happened to Yuki. You were able to set her free, and you allowed her to die peacefully. So for all of that… thank you…"

Without another word, Riku quietly went inside the house to dry off, leaving Sora and Donald on the steps of the house, mourning bitterly for the loss of a dear friend.

… It was going to be a long night for all of them…

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**Wow... I know this is probably a terrible place to leave it on HIATUS, but hopefully I will get my KH spirit renewed and have more time to continue and (eventually) finish this fanfiction.**

**Thanks for all the support up until now! I'll update a new chapter when I'm not on HIATUS status anymore for this fic. Otherwise, that's all for now. :D Sorry for the inconvenience if you were a fan of this fic.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


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